The International Cricket Council (ICC) is eyeing a dedicated fund to promote Test cricket for boards outside the Big Three (England, Australia and India) to compete with the big-money T20 leagues, reported ESPN Cricinfo on Sunday.
The initiative is primarily driven by Cricket Australia (CA) chief Mark Baird with the support of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the goal is to create a central fund that would provide a minimum match fee reported around US $10,000 for players.
In the recent past, players have withdrawn from playing Test cricket for their countries to participate in league cricket as the latter offers more money. Hosting Test matches is quite expensive for the boards as the nine Test-playing nations excluding Australia, England and India operate at losses at times.
During West Indies’ red-ball tour to Australia earlier this year, Cricket West Indies CEO Johnny Grave confirmed that the tour cost the board around US $2 million.
The fund is expected to be around US $15 million and will be backed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who could become the ICC chairman later this year, and ECB chief Richard Thompson.
The fund is still in its initial stages and is yet to be discussed formally by the ICC.
"It's fantastic to see some momentum behind the Test-match fund," Baird told the Sydney Morning Herald. "We need to take away the barriers and encourage Test cricket to be the best of the best. To retain that history and that legacy, which goes alongside the newer forms of white-ball cricket."
Meanwhile, last month, ECB chief executive Richard Gould also revealed that Zimbabwe will be paid a “touring fee” during thief visit to Trent Bridge to play a one-off Test in May 2025.
