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This week’s World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa at Lord’s is the longer format’s showpiece.

The fixture also represents an opportunity to celebrate international cricket’s historic, and most romanticised, form of the game.

For the majority of its 148-year life, Test cricket has been treasured as the pinnacle of the sport, but over the past two decades its popularity has diminished in some countries.

The growth of shorter formats, and especially T20, has played a part and for some national boards Test cricket is seen as a financial millstone amid poor attendances and declining interest.

The World Test Championship (WTC) was conceived during Greg Barclay’s chairmanship of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Barclay, who stepped down last December after four years in the role, said it was a necessary step to ensure Test cricket appealed to modern fans.

Each WTC cycle runs for two years. Teams play six series in that time – three at home and three away – with 12 points awarded for winning a match, six for a tie and four for a draw.

However, as teams play a different number of Tests across their six series, the table is ranked by percentage of points won.

“The format of the WTC has got its critics and justifiably so, but we had to do something,” Barclay told BBC Sport.

“I think it’s driven a lot of interest in Test cricket. Conceptually it’s been a real positive addition to the cricketing calendar.

“If you have context, relevance and a bit of jeopardy the fans get far more involved in it.”

While the WTC is only in its third iteration, there is much work to be done to ensure it has the “sporting integrity” to help aid Test cricket’s finances, according to former West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave.

“It’s not ‘pure’ in the sense that every team plays equal games, that there’s genuine jeopardy in terms of who might win, central marketing, revenue sharing and collective selling,” Grave explained.

“All these things, in terms of the theory behind how and why a sports league works, don’t exist within the WTC.

“We have a WTC where if you’re being really honest, the most valuable fixture – India versus Pakistan – within that league never happens. It’s like having La Liga but Barcelona and Real Madrid not playing each other.”

Three countries – Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan – play Test cricket but are not in the WTC.

Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said he had a “very open mind” about the Irish joining the WTC in future, even though they currently only play Test cricket sporadically at the moment.

But Deutrom acknowledged there would need to be more ICC funding – Ireland currently receive about $18.0m (£13.3m) a year – for that to be a reality.

For players from England, Australia and India, playing Test cricket is financially rewarding.

Ben Stokes, England’s Test captain, has a central contract reportedly worth £2.47m a year with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)

Not all boards have the same depth of financial resources.

So inevitably, there has been a talent drain towards franchise cricket, frequently ensuring the most talented players are not always available for Test commitments.

WTC finalists South Africa were criticised for sending a weakened squad on a Test tour of New Zealand so their star players could play in the country’s domestic franchise tournament, the SA20.

That trend appeared to go a step further this week when West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran, who has never played a Test match, decided to retire from international cricket at the age of 29.

Pooran is paid $2.5m for his participation in the IPL alone, while the top-earning centrally contracted players with Cricket West Indies earn $200,000.

The idea of the ICC ring-fencing a Test fund to financially incentivise players to play the format has been mooted in the past.

“It has to be something that’s looked at,” said Grave, who is now the chief executive of Major League Cricket in the USA, but an advocate for Test cricket.

“Players will make decisions about what’s good for them and their livelihoods and their future financial security.”

Deutrom believes there should be a degree of a financial autonomy for the likes of Cricket Ireland to decide how to spend the cash.

“I think the way it would work is that you would incentivise the boards in order to make sure that the players could be incentivised,” he said.

“Every member deals with its players differently, incentivises different formats. Obviously we are very familiar with the approach England takes in terms of the incentivisation of its players to play Test cricket.”

Barclay remains more cautious and would be “loathe to see a direct subsidy” to enable Test cricket to be played.

He added the idea “wasn’t seriously discussed during my watch” at the ICC but conceded “there may be a slightly different emphasis” now.

“It’s a case of prioritising, using resources sensibly, and accordingly,” Barclay said.

“My dream is that in my lifetime I will be able to see India and China playing against each other in Test cricket,” said Malcolm Speed when he was ICC chief executive in 2007.

BBC Sport understands the ICC sent a delegation to China last year, but the longer format was not part of discussions in any formal sense.

Speed’s comments feel like pie in the sky, yet China never had a world snooker champion until this year. There were 34,000 snooker halls in the country around the time Speed made his remarks – there are now 300,000.

Could Test cricket expand to new frontiers to boost its financial sustainability?

“The ICC made both Ireland and Afghanistan full members in 2017 but it did not mean it was the end of the line,” Barclay said.

“Again it’s the old adage of being careful what you wish for, because once you become a full member you move into another echelon and you have a lot of commitments that you need to make. It costs a lot of money.

“Everyone thinks that becoming a full member is this financial El Dorado, and it kind of is. But if broadcast revenues and commercial outcomes were to fall away, and the full members have to split their pie other ways, it might not be the financial boost they are expecting that it is.”

Nepal, USA, UAE and Scotland are all seen as future Test-playing nations, even if there does not appear a rush for any of them to assume full-member status.

BBC Sport has been told there are no extra financial incentives from the ICC for those nations to develop their domestic structures for red-ball cricket.

Barclay said it is “really important” to “have a basis for the game and playing red ball cricket at domestic level”.

Deutrom indicated a way to ensure the growth and financial sustainability of the format for those who have recently come into the fold, would be to remove some of the costly barriers to staging Test cricket.

“To preserve the prestige of the format doesn’t necessarily mean it should be so exclusive as to be unaffordable,” he added.

In England, Australia and India, Test cricket’s appeal to broadcasters can still move the needle for broadcasters, sponsors and fans.

The deal between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Sky Sports is currently worth £880m.

A sold-out Ashes Test, for example, can largely determine the annual profitability of the English county side hosting the match.

For the Test-playing countries outside the so-called ‘big three’, attendances for matches have dwindled and broadcast revenues are considerably smaller.

Grave has long argued for a more even distribution of the pie.

“West Indies haven’t got terrible overnight at Test cricket. Pakistan haven’t fallen down the rankings overnight,” he said.

“This has been a gradual decline since satellite TV came in, in 2001. And the economics of the game just changed, evolved dramatically over 20 years.

“So in order to get up to where Test cricket could be, it’s probably going to take another 20 years of changing the model before you’re really going to see the benefit.”

England paid a touring fee to Zimbabwe for their Test at Trent Bridge last month and Grave believes the ‘big three’ should give a share of revenues from Tests where they are fulfilling broadcast contracts.

“I found it frustrating when we would come to England at a cost of $1m to Cricket West Indies and see no revenue,” Grave added.

There has not been a single three-match Test series not involving at least one of England, Australia and India since 2019.

The main reason for the truncation of a series is that it is not possible to be fitted in because of the need for three days of rest between matches.

Broadcasters have to provide an expensive outlay for a fifth day which doesn’t always happen.

Is it time for four-day Tests to become the norm? Barclay thinks it should be considered.

“Anything is on the table and if that helps in terms of the betterment and maintenance of Test cricket then absolutely we should be looking at doing that,” Barclay said.

Grave can see the practical benefits to keep fans engaged.

He said: “I would have all Test matches starting on a Thursday and finishing on a Sunday.

“When you have a longer Test series, and you have a complete week off, that ends up for the fan being 10 days off, it’s quite difficult to switch on a casual fan and remind them the Test series is still going on.”

The former West Indies chief executive even suggested bolder proposals to get the game done within a four-day timeframe – including tweaking the number of balls in an over.

“The Hundred doesn’t have six balls in every over. So why couldn’t Test cricket have three sessions of 25 overs and eight balls for example?” Grave added.

Test cricket’s appeal would seem to lie in its brand legacy. As in other walks of life an individual’s lifestyle choices change with age – and perhaps T20 can be the gateway to fans whose tastes alter later in life.

For Barclay the format is “in pretty good fettle” despite concerns it is facing some sort of existential crisis.

“I absolutely say it’s sustainable. I think it’s the format of the game which really represents the essence of cricket,” Barclay said.

“To allow it to fall away, or in any way be compromised, I think would be at a massive loss to cricket as a sport. It’s incumbent on everyone involved in the game to ensure Test cricket does sustain itself financially.

“The phrase I use is cross subsidisation so having an unabashed form of the game which is generating the revenue in T20 enables investment back into [Test cricket].

“The game’s never been more wealthy and more lucrative but it’s never needed as much money now as what it has, so I guess you have to trade off in terms of what your priorities are.”

Grave is adamant changes need to be made to a “broken model” for the format to endure in monetary terms otherwise “the majority of Test cricket will just be played by three teams”.

“If the game of cricket wants Test cricket to be financially sustainable, I genuinely believe it is. Is it sustainable in its current model? Almost certainly no,” Grave said.

While balancing the books weighs on Deutrom’s mind, it does not detract from an unbridled passion for Ireland to continue to play the longer format.

“The discussion about Test cricket doesn’t start with finance and funding,” Deutrom added.

“It’s a format that we all love. It absolutely symbolises and exemplifies the journey Irish cricket has taken.

“So any discussion around, funding and finance has to be placed within that context in the first instance.”

During a round of interviews as he embarked on a stint at Middlesex, former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson recently said red-ball cricket was the “soul” of the game while Virat Kohli chose the IPL final to declare his deep love for the format.

Barclay’s successor as ICC chair, Jay Shah, is said to be a fan of Test cricket by those who know him well, which would at least appear to safeguard its financial future for the immediate term at least.

Sporting have not received an offer for striker Viktor Gyokeres and there is no ‘gentleman’s agreement’ for him to leave for £59m, says club president Frederico Varandas.

Sweden international Gyokeres, 27, has been heavily linked with Manchester United and Arsenal after scoring 97 goals in 102 matches during two seasons in Portugal.

He has a 100m euro (£85m) release clause in his contract.

It has been widely reported that, after staying at Sporting last summer, Gyokeres and Sporting agreed he could leave for 70m euros (£59m) this summer.

However, Varandas said the club’s only promise to Gyokeres was that they would not demand his full release clause.

“To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyokeres – neither today nor last season.”

Gyokeres spent three seasons with Coventry City in the Championship before joining Sporting under Ruben Amorim.

Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana was sporting director at Sporting last summer, when Gyokeres’ agent sought assurances about his leaving if a suitable offer arrived.

“One of the agent’s biggest concerns was whether we would demand the termination clause,” said Varandas.

“He wanted to guarantee certain things. And what was agreed? That Sporting would not demand a release clause now.

“For one reason: he was going to be 27 years old and no player leaves Portugal at 27 for 100m eurors or 90m euros.

Neah Evans wanted to be a showjumper, but an injury to her horse prevented her riding. So she took up fell running instead, only for anaemia to curtail that.

In her early 20s, feeling gloomy and losing her love for sport, the veterinary student grudgingly accepted dad Malcolm’s surprise booking of a ‘give it a go’ cycling session at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

Evans, who had cycled as a child, had never been on a bike without brakes. She’d never used clip-in pedals. She’d never even been inside a velodrome.

But with Glasgow 2014 looming and the track – built for the event – open to the public, she found herself making a decision that would change her life.

“I almost just went to appease my dad, but it was a sliding doors moment because I absolutely loved it and everything just snowballed,” she tells BBC Sport Scotland.

And how. Evans is speaking in that same velodrome 11 years later as the owner of world and European golds, as well as silvers from two separate Olympics and four Commonwealth Games medals.

“If it wasn’t for Glasgow 2014, and this place hadn’t been built, I wouldn’t be a cyclist,” says Evans, who confesses that her “lively” student lifestyle took precedence over attending any events at those Games.

“When people talk about legacy and those buzzwords, I normally kind of go, ‘oh yeah, does it actually work?’. But I’m living proof that it could change your life.”

Not that it happened immediately for Evans, who still readily describes herself as “an accidental athlete”.

Cycling remained a hobby while she qualified and worked as a vet. And it was only a year before the Gold Coast Games of 2018 that she became a full-time athlete.

She went to Australia as part of Team Scotland expecting to discover she wasn’t good enough to be a professional and destined for a life working with animals.

But Evans won silver and bronze and suddenly a whole new career opened up in front of her. “I was like ‘huh, I’m quite good at this’,” she recalls.

“It was a turning point. That’s why the Commonwealth Games are really special for me because I can pinpoint that as when I transitioned from being a vet who did a bit of cycling to seeing myself as a cyclist.”

With all that in mind, the Games returning to Glasgow next summer will mark a particular high point for Evans.

In the wake of a second successful Olympics, the 34-year-old’s focus has switched to road racing for this season. It has not gone well, with a succession of calamities befalling her, but she will be back on the boards next year.

Having competed – and won – at the Worlds in Glasgow in 2023, she knows what the sights, sounds and smells of the event will be and is using those memories to propel her through her ongoing struggles.

“When you’re faced with a four-hour bike ride in the rain and don’t really fancy it, you think, ‘come on, the Games are coming up’ and that keeps you going,” she says.

When Isaac Price spoke to the media before Northern Ireland’s friendly with Iceland at Windsor Park, it was put to him that his next goal for Michael O’Neill’s side would draw him level with some iconic figures who have worn the green jersey.

George Best, Norman Whiteside, Gareth McAuley and Billy Bingham were the only four men to score exactly nine times for Northern Ireland.

“The names are legends. I don’t think I’m anywhere near that,” replied the 21-year-old on Monday afternoon.

“But if I got to score another goal and join them, it would be an incredibly proud moment for me and my family.”

In the end, the wait was a short one as, with 36 minutes gone in Tuesday night’s 1-0 win, the West Bromwich Albion man drifted off the left before curling in a right-footed effort from outside the box.

With the final goal of his October hat-trick against Bulgaria and March’s free-kick against Switzerland having come from a similar area of the Windsor Park pitch, it was the sort of finish that feels like it is quickly becoming Price’s trademark.

If this one seemed more special given the company the Everton youth product now keeps, what’s most impressive is the speed with which he has reached such rarefied air in the country’s record books.

The game against Iceland was the side’s last before their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign begins in September with an away double-header against Luxembourg and Germany.

By the time those fixtures roll around, it will be almost two years since their last qualifier. If Liverpool’s Conor Bradley has emerged as the side’s talisman in that period, then Price has filled a role which has posed a problem for even longer – that of a regular goalscorer.

He remains some way off David Healy’s 36 scored for the side between 2000 and 2013, but when the former Leeds United and Preston North End striker came on the scene the record stood at just 13.

While Kyle Lafferty later hit 20 in 89 caps, with his goals proving crucial in guiding the side to Euro 2016 qualification, the search for a successor has been difficult.

Indeed, before Price’s run of seven goals in his past seven caps, it had not been uncommon for defender Paddy McNair to be the most prolific member of Michael O’Neill’s starting side during the manager’s second stint in charge.

That such a void has been filled by a player who is not striker at all, and rarely scores at club level, feels all the more noteworthy.

He scored once for West Brom after his January move from Standard Liege, the same tally he managed in two seasons spent in Belgium’s top flight.

While calling his move abroad from Everton in 2023 the “best decision” he could have made for his football, Price noted it had been “challenging to settle” in a new country, something that conversely made Northern Ireland feel all the more “like home” when the England-born player came away on international duty.

So, too, did the confidence of his manager.

O’Neill acknowledged only this week that he likely still did not know Price’s best position, but internationally he has settled into playing off the left of midfield, inside a wing-back and behind a central striker.

At club level, he often holds a more orthodox midfield position and has even turned out at right-back, although he noted he still works on his finishing “every day”.

He added: “I’ve probably not had a manager that’s told me that before. I feel like I’ve always been a number eight or a little bit deeper, trying to get on the ball more.

“But when I come here, he’s seen something in me that I probably didn’t see in myself.”

Just what was it that O’Neill saw?

“Two things – intelligence and athleticism. They are the two biggest things,” said the manager, who like Price made his international debut for NI as a teenager.

“There is a technical level there but he’s an intelligent boy. He understands the game and if you give him an instruction he is able to do it.

“He is a very easy player to coach and I think that’s the biggest attribute he has. If you are looking at the profile of a modern day footballer, we’d maybe like to see him a few kilograms heavier, but given his size and his ability to run, he has all the attributes you want in a young player.”

Of course, there is no greater attribute than a knack for a timely goal with Price’s ability to find the net, even on nights like Tuesday when he felt below his best, key to NI’s hopes of making it to the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico next summer.

“You need that in teams if you want to have a chance of qualifying,” said defender Trai Hume who has lined out alongside Price in 19 of his 22 caps.

“You just look at Kyle Lafferty in 2016, he was scoring goals non-stop.

O’Neill still maintains Price’s biggest contribution is off the ball. While it is his goals that catch the eye, a game in which he did not score, the 2-1 defeat against Denmark on Saturday, offered a good example.

Lazio’s Gustav Isaksen was quickly shown to be the host’s most direct threat in Copenhagen with Price recognising that his left wing-back, Justin Devenny, was playing in an unfamiliar position and frequently tracked back deeper to help out.

“The ball falls to Isaac and you know there’s a bit of magic in him, you know it’s going to happen,” said Crystal Palace’s Devenny.

“We see his quality on the ball, but it maybe goes under the radar, his work off the ball. He doesn’t stop running for 90 minutes.

“That’s massive for this team when we need to dig in. Isaac maybe doesn’t get the credit for that because he gets all the credit for his ability on the ball.”

Having spoken about his desire to achieve team success, Price wants to keep climbing Northern Ireland’s goalscoring charts too.

Already only 14 men have ever netted more for the team. Next in his sights are another fine trio of players – Jimmy McIlroy, Peter McParland and Johnny Crossan – who all scored 10 times for the side.

“I want more. I’m not satisfied with what I’ve got. I want to go and get more,” he said.

“The performances need to get better too.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy says this week’s US Open venue Oakmont “felt impossible” as recently as last week.

The world number two revealed he shot 81 during a practice round last Monday, although he added that the following day he found it not quite as fearsome a challenge.

The Northern Irishman missed the cut when the demanding Pittsburgh layout last staged the US Open in 2016, before its redesign in 2023.

And while he said he tried to wipe that week from his memory, he was handed a stark reminder of Oakmont’s severe demands – five-inch rough and undulating greens – while carding 11-over in practice on 2 June.

“Last Monday felt impossible – I birdied the last two holes for 81,” said the five-time major winner, who described Oakmont as a “big brute of a golf course”.

“It felt pretty good, it didn’t feel like I played that bad.

“It’s much more benign now – they had the pins in dicey positions and the greens were running at 15 and a half. It was nearly impossible.”

McIlroy, the 2011 US Open champion, has struggled with his driver in recent weeks and is coming off a nightmarish week at the Canadian Open, where he missed the cut by 12 shots.

However, he admitted Oakmont – which is hosting its 10th US Open – felt “softer” during practice on Tuesday.

“If you put it on the fairway, it’s certainly playable,” added the 36-year-old.

“But then you just have to think about leaving your ball below the hole and just trying to make as many pars as you can. If you get yourself in the way of a few birdies, that’s a bonus.

“I’m glad we have spotters out there, because last Monday you hit a ball off the fairway and you were looking for a good couple of minutes just to find it.

McIlroy’s form has deserted him in recent weeks. After his Masters win sealed the career Grand Slam, he finished tied seventh in his next event before a tie for 47th at the US PGA Championship, where his driver failed a pre-tournament legality test.

And having endured a brutal practice round at Oakmont, he carded an eight-over 78 to miss the weekend in Toronto last week.

While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, McIlroy admitted he has struggled for motivation following his career-defining Augusta triumph.

“I think it’s trying to have a little bit of amnesia and forget about what happened six weeks ago [at the Masters], then just trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I’ve been working,” he said when asked about moving forward.

“I worked incredibly hard on my game from October last year all the way up until April this year.

McIlroy, who has reverted to his old driver after struggling off the tee in Canada, added it was important to savour his most significant achievement.

“You have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy what you’ve just accomplished,” he said.

“I certainly feel like I’m still doing that and I will continue to do that. At some point you have to realise that there’s a little bit more golf left to play this season.

“Weeks like Quail Hollow [at the US PGA] or even weeks like last week, it makes it easier to reset in some way – to be like ‘OK, I sort of need to get my stuff together here and get back to the process’.”

McIlroy also explained that he has “always been a player that struggles” to perform immediately after a big win.

“I always struggle to show up with motivation the next week because you’ve just accomplished something and you want to enjoy it, and you want to sort of relish the fact that you’ve achieved a goal,” he said.

After failing to make three consecutive US Open cuts between 2016 and 2018, McIlroy has posted six successive top-10 finishes and been runner-up the past two years.