The International Cricket Council (ICC) is reportedly mulling over introducing a dedicated fund for Tests to ensure the the game continues to prosper outside the ‘Big Three’. The proposal has been introduced by Cricket Australia and has the backing of BCCI and ECB which will ensure a minimum standard match fee for players – around USD 10,000 – and could be implemented from 2025 onwards. The need for such a fund seems to have been primarily driven by the fact that cricket boards apart from India, Australia and England seem to take a financial hit as far as playing Tests – both home and away – is considered. Additionally, players now consider T20 leagues as financially more rewarding than Test cricket.
Sunil Gavaskar has thrown his weight behind setting up of such fund and feels it will be a good idea that a home team should bear the hotel and travel costs of the touring side.
“…it is a good idea for the ICC to suggest that the home team should bear the hotel and internal travel costs of the visiting country’s team,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar. “That can be a big relief for some, for sure, and would help them balance their budget to a great extent.”
Also Read: Gavaskar Blasts ‘Perennial Cribbers’
Gavaskar feels such a step will also ensure that the standard of the visiting teams will get a certain standard of travel and accommodation is high unlike in the past.
“Clearly, there has to be a minimum standard set for hotels and travel; otherwise, like it happened in the past, some boards will get away by accommodating visiting teams in places no better than college hostels,” Gavaskar said.
“However, determining the playing fees would be best left to the discretion of individual boards. Standards of living vary from country to country, so having one fixed fee may not be such a good idea,” he added.
Earlier this year, the ICC, in its board meeting, finalised its financial distribution model from 2024-27 which will see BCCI pocket a cool 38.5 per cent of its revenue share which is six times than that of ECB (6.89 per cent) and CA (6.25 per cent).
There were reports of certain cricket boards unhappy with India getting the lion’s share of revenue. Gavaskar claims the boards across the globe have been getting enough fund from the ICC that would help them run cricket in their country and suggested those ‘moaning’ about not getting enough, should undergo a ‘forensic audit’ to determine where exactly they’re spending the money.
“It would be worthwhile to do a forensic audit of where the ICC’s revenue share to the various boards goes. That would be far more revealing and could well nullify the case of giving additional share to the usual moaners,” Gavaskar wrote.
“Make no mistake, whatever share the various boards are getting is more than enough to run the game in their countries and still have something left over. Depending on getting an increasing share of the ICC pie makes for lazy administration, for then, they just have to enjoy the perks of office without looking to strengthen the game in their country,” he added.
Comments
0 comment