ICC could introduce dedicated fund to reinforce Test cricket outside Big Three

The ICC could introduce a dedicated fund from 2025 in an attempt to reinforce Test cricket and allow boards outside the Big Three to compete with more lucrative franchise leagues to ensure they can call upon a bigger pool of their talent.

The initiative, driven primarily by Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird and with the support of the BCCI and ECB, is aimed at creating a central fund to provide a minimum standard match fee for players across the board, reported to be around US $10,000 (approx £7,600). The hope is it will be agreed upon before Christmas in time for it to be fully operational next year.

Not only would this make Test cricket more attractive to players who essentially opt out of the format for a bigger payday in short-format competitions across the world, but it would also reduce the costs incurred by less-moneyed boards. The nine Test-playing nations beyond India, Australia and England (who will not be privy to the fund) often operate at a loss when it comes to red-ball cricket, and not just as hosts. Earlier this summer, outgoing Cricket West Indies CEO Johnny Grave revealed that the tour of Australia at the start of the year had cost the board US $2 million.

The fund, which is expected to be in the region of US $15 million (approx £11 million), is understood to have the backing of BCCI secretary Jay Shah and ECB chair Richard Thompson. It is currently at a formative stage and has not been discussed formally by the ICC at the board level or by their executive committee. But Baird is confident.

"It's fantastic to see some momentum behind the Test-match fund," he 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."

Last month, ECB chief executive Richard Gould revealed that Zimbabwe would be paid a "touring fee" when they come over for a one-off Test at Trent Bridge on May 22. Gould had posited the idea of hosts paying a fee to travelling teams a year before, but only now are concrete moves being made.

Such is the skewed economics of the global game that boards have already been dealing in reciprocal agreements in some form or another. The ECB, for instance, agreed to an extra three T20Is on their 2023 limited-overs tour of the Caribbean which were healthy money-spinners for the region. As a sweetener for West Indies Test series in England last month, the ECB will facilitate a West Indies Under-19 tour to the UK.