The International Cricket Council (ICC) is planning to launch a dedicated fund of 15 million USD for Test cricket that will help increase the players’ match fees and solve the issues of players migrating to T20 franchise leagues.
The initiative was proposed by Cricket Australia and has the support of Jay Shah, the front-runner to become ICC’s next chairman and the England and Wales Cricket Board.
The fund would pay for sending teams on abroad trips and raise the minimum match salary for Test players. It would help national teams like the West Indies, which presently find it difficult to match the pay packages offered by international T20 competitions.
“The fund would ensure a minimum Test payment for all players, thought to be USD 10,000, and pay the costs of overseas tours for struggling countries,” the report stated.
“It’s fantastic to see some momentum behind the Test match fund,” CA chairman Mike Baird, who floated the concept in January, said.
“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,” he added.
Being the powerful cricket boards, England, Australia, and India already pay their player’s high incomes, it seems unlikely that the fund will help them. The reports also stated that the amount of funding made by the sports governing body for test cricket will probably hinge on a disagreement with the broadcaster.
Star Network wants to negotiate a broadcast agreement with the ICC for 2022 and cut the deal in half from more than USD three billion initial costs.
Earlier this year, BCCI implemented a program to hike salary for test cricket in India intending the players to motivate them to focus on the longest format of the game and reward their efforts.
In addition to the Test match fees of INR 15 lakhs, a player who participates in at least 75% of India test matches within the year, which runs from October to September, will receive INR 45 lakhs for each match under the new program.
Players who appear between 50 and 75% of games will receive a bonus of INR 30 lakhs. If they are chosen for the squad, the nonplaying member will receive half of the total compensation.
