New World Test Championship is put back to 2017

Rahul Dravid scored his 36th century yesterday (GETTY IMAGES)

The World Test Championship will not begin until 2017, International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat confirmed yesterday. "I am afraid that is no longer going to happen in 2013," he said at the Pakistan-Sri Lanka one-day international in Dubai.

"At the last [ICC] board meeting we decided the first opportunity to play the Test Championship is 2017. I am disappointed it is not going to take place sooner but it is a reality of the commitments we have already got through to 2015."

The World Test Championship will probably come too late for Rahul Dravid, who yesterday scored his 36th Test hundred for India against West Indies. Dravid made 119 while V V S Laxman (73 not out) and Gautam Gambhir (65) also contributed as India, leading 1-0 in the three-Test series, closed on 346 for 5 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.