ST JOHN’S, Antigua – West Indies will play three Test matches in England in June, 2020, including a match at historic Oval in London, as they defend the Wisden Trophy against the host nation. The details of the series, announced by the England & Wales Cricket Board on Wednesday, show the first Test at the Oval, followed by the second contest at Edgbaston in Birmingham and the third at Lord’s back in London.

“The Oval, due to the location in London, was seen by many as the spiritual home for West Indies cricket fans living in the United Kingdom. For decades the fans celebrated their team’s success and dominance on the world stage and came out in large numbers to support their cricketing heroes,” said Johnny Grave, CEO of Cricket West Indies (CWI).

“As we prepare to defend the prestigious Wisden trophy, which we won so spectacularly earlier this year, it’s indeed great to see we are making a return to the Oval, one of the iconic venues in world cricket. Over the years we have seen some amazing performances by West Indian players at this ground – Viv Richards with 291 and Michael Holding with 14 wickets back in 1976 – and it would be great for our young, emerging team to also write their names in the history books next year.”

The series will form a crucial part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) which has been introduced, to give greater context to the longest format of the game and will be played over the next two years. It will feature nine of the 12 Test-playing nations, each of whom will play a Test series against six of the other eight teams.

Each series will consist of between two and five matches, so although all teams will play six series (three at home and three away), they will not play the same number of Tests. Each team will be able to score a maximum of 120 points from each series and the two teams with the most points at the end of the league stage will contest the Final in June, 2021 in England to crown the first ever World Test champion.