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When Zimbabwe visits England for a one-off Test match in the summer of 2025, they will become the first nation in modern times to receive a “touring fee” from the host board. ECB CEO Richard Gould confirmed the development on Friday during a conversation on Sky Sports during the opening day of play in the Edgbaston Test.
In an interview with the Final World podcast last year, Gould was the one who first proposed that a group effort was required to maintain the high level of Test cricket while balancing the differences in income received by the different Full Member nations. Ever since, Gould has suggested—and repeated twice already this week—that the host board charge visiting teams a fee.
“There’s a huge responsibility,” Gould told former England captain Mike Atherton on Sky Sports about need for the ECB and other financially strong boards like the BCCI and Cricket Auustralia to ensure Test cricket is competitive. “When you look at whether it’s the revenue share from the ICC or indeed the revenue share from bilateral cricket, which is fairly old fashioned in truth in the way that it’s delivered.
“For example, next year Zimbabwe are coming to tour [England]. Normally the way the things happen is that it’s the touring team gets itself into the country and then it’s looked after in terms of accommodation, all the rest of it. But there’s no fee for that team that’s touring. Next year when we play against Zimbabwe, there will be a fee for that team that’s touring.”
CWI CEO Johnny Grave declared that the ICC’s revenue-share model was totally flawed due to the rising expenses of maintaining Test cricket in smaller nations, where the value of television rights has decreased significantly, particularly for the longest format. Grave was reacting to criticism of the West Indies for fielding a weak Test team for the two-match Test series in Australia, which made news after Shamar Joseph’s incredible fast bowling performance at the Gabba tied the series on an injured toe.
Gould said weaker boards like CWI had his “sympathy”, but remained optimistic of finding ways to keep them strong. “I had conversations with the West Indies six, nine months back before they arrived, [about] what assistance we can we provide. And it’s interesting because it won’t just be on the Test match cycle. For example, we played an extra two T20s before Christmas in the West Indies [in 2023] in order to help them.
“The specific request that came from the West Indies in this for this particular tour is: can you help us with an Under-19 tour at some point so that we can get more of our players getting access red-ball cricket in those [England] conditions? So, it’s not always about the money. It’s, and, and there are different ways of doing it.”