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Follow UsThe International Cricket Council (ICC) is moving quickly to arrange for a separate fund of $15 million to assist Test cricket in less financially stable cricketing nations. Its upcoming Chairman, Jay Shah, has also talked enthusiastically about this scheme and is also set to introduce a match fee of $10,000 for players from these nations.
However, Johnny Grave, the outgoing CEO of Cricket West Indies, who has been quite vocal on the issues of Big Three domination at the ICC, feels that it’s not even remotely enough to help Test cricket substantially help Test cricket. He feels that the player fee is not more than “window dressing” and is equivalent to a “rounding error” for some of the richer boards.
“Cricket as a game needs to think much more as a league and needs to understand everyone's business models a bit better,” Grave remarked in talkSport’s Following On podcast.
“I think the idea of paying a Test fee of US $10,000 is not even window dressing. We pay our players US $10,000. So, I sort of smiled when I saw that come out in the press. I thought, 'How is it going to change cricket, and how's that going to be the saviour of Test cricket when our players are already getting paid that?' It's not going to make any difference to us.”
Grave argued that the way forward is to work on the grassroots structure and facilitate more Test and ‘A’ cricket to build a strong base for Test cricket in the non-Big Three nations.
“What will make a difference, in my opinion, to improve West Indies Test cricket is by playing more three-match series rather than two-match series, by having dedicated Test windows where you're not competing against franchise opportunities, or supporting our 'A' team programmes. We've really struggled to get 'A' team tours," Grave said.
"But actually the best stepping stone for a player to go from…I don't think any player that I've ever met in my 25 years of working in the game has said that there's very little difference between playing county championship and Test match cricket.
“It's completely different, and the 'A' team environment does help in terms of, even if there's a difference in standards, at least you're touring, you're away from home, playing in foreign conditions. So, when you next go to England, some of the things you're facing as a human rather than as a cricketer you're a bit more accustomed to.
"And little things like that, in my opinion, will make more of a difference to West Indies cricket than the US $15 million divided by 12 Test match teams. That's still significant money to Cricket West Indies but it's a rounding error for lots of others."
Despite his issues with this proposed $15 million fund, Grave also believes that ICC events being organised by countries like the USA, West Indies, South Africa, Namibia etc., in the upcoming years are a good sign. A healthy debate on Test cricket’s future is necessary for him to derive the right outcome for the game's longest format.
“I welcome the debate, and I'm not saying that I or we at West Indies cricket have all the answers, but we welcome the debate, we welcome the slight change in mindset, which is the Big three can't just play against themselves. They've got to have a stronger opposition," Grave said.
"We've got to get jeopardy back in, we've got to get competitive balance. To a certain extent, some of that has changed.”
"The fact that we hosted the 2024 [T20] World Cup was a change in mindset and philosophy because the previous eight years, all those high-revenue men's events were exclusively held in England, Australia and India.
“So the fact that we've hosted with the US, that South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will co-host one, New Zealand will co-host with Australia, and Ireland with England. That is a change in mindset that we welcome.
"So hopefully, we continue on that path of thinking as a team, thinking like we're a game of cricket and we rely on and need each other and maybe a little bit less self-interest and a bit more love and care for the long-term future of the game would help.”
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