By Priscilla Jepchumba
The ICC could set up a special fund to strengthen Test cricket and enable associations beyond the Big Three to compete with higher profile franchise leagues.
The fund, estimated at over USD 15 million, is expected to be supported by the BCCI, the ECB and the CA.
The ICC could set up its own budget from 2025 to strengthen Test cricket and give bodies beyond the “Big Three” the opportunity to take on higher-level franchise leagues in order to access a larger talent pool.
The plan, driven primarily by Cricket Australia chairman Mark Baird and supported by the BCCI and ECB, aims to set up a single fund to provide an acceptable minimum match fee for all players, estimated to be around $10,000 (about £7,600).
They plan to set the amount before Christmas so that the program can be fully operational next year.
In addition, it could make Test cricket more attractive to players who would otherwise opt out of the format due to the higher salaries offered by short format competitions around the world, while also reducing costs for less well-funded associations.
Apart from India, Australia and England, who do not benefit from the fund, the other nine Test nations regularly lose money in Test cricket, and not just as hosts.
Earlier this summer, outgoing West Indies Cricket Association CEO Johnny Grave said the board had spent $2 million on a trip to Australia earlier in the year.
The total value of the fund, expected to be over $15 million (around £11 million), is supported by Jay Shah, secretary of BCCI, and ECB chairman Richard Thompson.
The project is currently in development and has not yet been publicly discussed by the ICC Board or Executive Committee, but Baird is confident.
“It’s fantastic to see some momentum behind the Test Match Fund,” West Indies Cricket CEO Johnny Grave told the media.
“We need to remove the barriers and encourage Test cricket to be the best of the best. To preserve that history and heritage that comes with the newer forms of white-ball cricket.”
Last month, ECB chief Richard Gould announced that Zimbabwe would be rewarded with a “touring fee” for a one-off Test at Trent Bridge on May 22. Gould had already suggested a year ago that hosts should pay visiting teams a fee, but only now are concrete steps being taken.
Due to the unbalanced dynamics of the global game, the bodies have in the past entered into mutually beneficial deals in one way or another. The ECB, for example, committed to hosting another 3 T20Is in its limited-overs part of the Caribbean in 2023, which would be good money-spinners for
the region.
As a bonus to the West Indies Test Series held in England last month, the ECB will facilitate a West Indies U19 tour of Great Britain.
