ICC Mulls Fund to Boost Test Cricket Outside Big Three

The initiative aims to offer competitive match fees to players, attracting a larger pool of talent

The ICC may establish a dedicated budget beginning in 2025 to strengthen Test cricket /

By Priscilla Jepchumba

The ICC may establish a dedicated fund to strengthen Test cricket and empower boards beyond the Big Three to take on higher-profile franchise leagues.

The fund, estimated to be over US 15 million dollars, is said to have received the backing of the BCCI, ECB, and CA.

The ICC may establish a dedicated budget beginning in 2025 to strengthen Test cricket and empower boards beyond the Big Three to take on higher-profile franchise leagues to tap into a larger pool of talent.

The plan, led principally by Cricket Australia chair Mark Baird and supported by the BCCI and ECB, aims to establish a single fund to offer an acceptable minimum match fee for players across the board, which is estimated to be roughly US $10,000 (approximately £7,600).

They plan to determine the amount before Christmas, allowing it to be completely up and running next year.

In addition, this could make Test cricket more appealing to players who might otherwise opt out of the format for a higher salary in short-format contests throughout the world, but it would also lower the costs faced by less-well-funded boards.

Aside from India, Australia, and England, who are not going to profit from the fund, the other nine Test-playing nations frequently lose money in red-ball cricket, and not only as hosts.

Earlier this summer, departing West Indies Cricket CEO Johnny Grave stated that the board had spent US $2 million on a visit to Australia at the beginning of the year.

The fund's total value, which is likely to be over $15 million (around £11 million), is said to have the support of Jay Shah, secretary of the BCCI, and ECB chairman Richard Thompson.

It is now in the developmental stage and has not yet been publicly considered by the ICC's board or executive committee. But Baird is sure.

"It's fantastic to see some momentum behind the Test-match fund," said Johnny Grave, West Indies Cricket CEO to the media.

 "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."

Last month, ECB CEO Richard Gould announced that Zimbabwe would be rewarded with a "touring fee" for a one-time Test in Trent Bridge on the 22nd of May. Gould proposed the notion of hosts settling a charge to visiting teams a year ago, though only now are tangible steps being taken.

Due to the lopsided dynamics of the global game, boards have previously engaged in mutually beneficial deals in some way or another. The ECB, for example, committed to a further 3 T20Is in its 2023 limited-overs leg of the Caribbean, which were good money-spinners for
the region.

As a sweetener for the West Indies Test series in England last month, the ECB will facilitate a West Indies Under-19 tour to the UK.