The tournament was played over two years, with 69 matches over 27 series scheduled for the league stage from which the top two teams advanced to a final. Each team was scheduled to play six series, with three at home and three away. Each series consisted of two to five Test matches. Each participant played between 12 and 22 matches. Each match was scheduled for a duration of five days.
The points system was changed from the previous edition. In this edition, 12 points would be available each match regardless of how many matches there were in a series. A win was worth all 12 points, a tie was worth 6 points each, a draw was worth 4 points each, and a loss was worth 0 points. Teams failing to meet the required over rate would have one point deducted for each over they were behind at the end of a match, except in cases where they bowled their opponents out in 60 overs in an innings, or 120 overs over the course of the match. As in the previous edition, teams were ranked in the league table based on percentage of total points won out of total points contested.
| Match result | Points earned | Points contested | Percentage of points won |
| Win | 12 | 12 | 100 |
| Tie | 6 | 12 | 50 |
| Draw | 4 | 12 | 33.33 |
| Loss | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Matches in series | Total points available |
| 2 | 24 |
| 3 | 36 |
| 4 | 48 |
| 5 | 60 |
Nine full members of the ICC participated in the competition: Australia , Bangladesh , England , India , New Zealand , Pakistan , South Africa , Sri Lanka , West Indies The three full members of the ICC who did not participate were Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe.
The schedule for the World Test Championship was announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 20 June 2018, as part of the 2018–2023 Future Tours Programme. Rather than being a full round-robin tournament in which everyone played everyone else equally, each team played only six of the other eight, as in the previous cycle.
| Home \ Away | AUS | BAN | ENG | IND | NZL | PAK | RSA | SRI | WIN |
| Australia | — | — | 4–0 | — | — | — | 2–0 | — | 2–0 |
| Bangladesh | — | — | — | 0–2 | — | 0–2 | — | 0–1 | — |
| England | — | — | — | 2–2 | 3–0 | — | 2–1 | — | — |
| India | 2–1 | — | — | — | 1–0 | — | — | 2–0 | — |
| New Zealand | — | 1–1 | — | — | — | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | — |
| Pakistan | 0–1 | — | 0–3 | — | 0–0 | — | — | — | — |
| South Africa | — | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | — | — | — | — | 2–0 |
| Sri Lanka | 1–1 | — | — | — | — | 1–1 | — | — | 2–0 |
| West Indies | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | — | 1–1 | — | — | — |
| Team | Scheduled matches | Not scheduled to play against | |||
| Total | Home | Away | |||
| Australia | 19 | 10 | 9 | Bangladesh | New Zealand |
| Bangladesh | 12 | 6 | 6 | Australia | England |
| England | 22 | 11 | 11 | Bangladesh | Sri Lanka |
| India | 18 | 8 | 10 | Pakistan | West Indies |
| New Zealand | 13 | 6 | 7 | Australia | West Indies |
| Pakistan | 14 | 8 | 6 | India | South Africa |
| South Africa | 15 | 7 | 8 | Pakistan | Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lanka | 12 | 6 | 6 | England | South Africa |
| West Indies | 13 | 7 | 6 | India | New Zealand |
The International Cricket Council declared a total prize money pool of US$3.8 million for the tournament. The prize money was allocated according to the performance of the team as follows: The winning team also received the ICC Test Championship Mace.
| Position | Prize money (US$) |
| Winner | $1,600,000 |
| Runner-up | $800,000 |
| Third | $450,000 |
| Fourth | $350,000 |
| Fifth | $200,000 |
| Sixth | $100,000 |
| Seventh | $100,000 |
| Eighth | $100,000 |
| Ninth | $100,000 |
| Total | $3,800,000 |
The top 5 players in each category are listed.
Source: Wikipedia