Why is South Africa's Test Series vs Zimbabwe not part of 2025-2027 WTC Cycle?

For some amazing batting displays by the winner of the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC 2025), the Zimbabwe vs. South Africa (ZIM vs. SA) Test match has been constantly maintaining a slot in the headlines. But another interesting part of the Test series is that the competition between these two teams will not count for the ongoing circle of WTC. But why? 

Due to the injury crisis and other issues, both teams were forced to change their usual Test squads. South Africa faced the host, Zimbabwe, without the service of their full-time skipper, Temba Bavuma. Bavuma was out of the series due to injury reasons. In place of him, Wiaan Mulder was in charge of leading the WTC 2025 winning side. With new responsibilities, Mulder did wonders with his bat and helped his team to gain an easy victory over Zimbabwe. 

But why will the series not count for the ongoing circle of the World Test Championship? The reason is simple. Only the top 9 teams of the ICC Test rankings are eligible to take part in the championship. Teams outside the top 9 will not count for the title race. Zimbabwe currently holds the 12th spot in the ICC Test rankings. They are placed after Ireland (10th) and Afghanistan (11th). As the ranking of the Craig Ervine-led team did not meet the criteria for participating in the championship, the series against South Africa was only a normal Test series. 

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ZIM vs SA: 2nd Test Match Highlights:

South Africa won the second Test match after winning the first of the two-match series against the home team with ease. SA won the game by an inning and 236 runs. Wiaan Mulder's historic 367-run unbeaten innings in Bulawayo put his team on the top of a pile of runs. South Africa, batting first, scored 626/5d in the first innings and pushed Zimbabwe to a near impossible job to do. Despite Sean Williams' unbeaten 83, Zimbabwe in their first innings got only 170 on the scoreboard. Prenelan Subrayen in the phase clinched 4 wickets for the visiting team.

In the second innings, Zimbabwe, on follow-on, grabbed only 220 before losing all of their 10 wickets. This time Corbin Bosch took 4 scalps. Thus, South Africa, the champion of WTC 2025, will take the return flight with a 2-0 series win.