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The England Cricket Team's hopes of reaching the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) blow have taken a costly blow despite winning the series over Sri Lanka by a 2-1 margin following a defeat to the the Asian giants in the Oval Test on Monday (September 9).
England were on course for a near perfect home summer after a 3-0 victory in the series against West Indies in July and victories in the first two Tests against Sri Lanka. However, Dhananjaya de Silva-led side thrashed them by eight wickets in the third Test to put England all but out of contention to reach the WTC final.
England Slip To 6th Place
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As a result of the defeat, England have fallen to 6th place in the 2023-25 WTC table and gone behind Sri Lanka. The Ben Stokes-led outfit have eight wins in 16 matches with a points percentage of 42.19$. In 5th place, Sri Lanka are narrowly ahead with 42.86% points.
WTC Table 2023-25 Table
England's Remaining Fixtures
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England tour of Pakistan – October 2024 (3 Tests)
Engand Tour of New Zealand – November/December 2024 (3 Tests)
Can England Qualify?
A miserable start to their campaign in the 2023-25 cycle is set to cost England, as after drawing a home series against arch-rivals Australia 2-2, they were thrashed by India 4-1. As things stand, the Three Lions do not have their destiny in their own hands.
Even if England win each of their remaining six Test matches, they can climb to a maximum of 57.95%, which is below what both India (68.52) and Australia (62.50) have at the moment. Even if India win each of their five Test matches at home and lose all five games in Australia, they will finish England. The Rohit Sharma-led team will have to lose a minimum of six Tests of the remaining 10 to finish below England.
On the other hand, Australia will be guaranteed to finish above England if they win four of their remaining seven games, which include an away tour (2 tests) against Sri Lanka after the blockbuster home series against India.
With an away series left against Bangladesh and home assignments against South Africa and Sri Lanka, the Proteas will finish above England if they manage to win five of the six games.
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With Lord's set to host the final in 2025, England will host the WTC final for the third time in a row, but it is all but guaranteed that the home team will once again be missing unless for some divine intervention.