ECB to pay Zimbabwe a touring fee for a one-off Test in 2025

The ECB has decided to offer Zimbabwe a “touring fee” for their one-time Test match against Ben Stokes and company in 2025, which is a commendable gesture. In order to play the red-ball match during the English summer, the African team will be travelling to the United Kingdom.

In a recent interview, ECB Chief Executive Richard Gould acknowledged the development.

He has previously made a strong case for the need for cricket boards like the BCCI, CA, and ECB—which bring in more money—to take charge and make sure that Test cricket continues to be of a high calibre. He had brought up this argument on the Final Word podcast the previous year. Ever since, Gould has suggested—and repeated twice already this week—that the host board charge visiting teams a fee.

“There is a great deal of obligation. Upon examining the revenue sharing from both the Indian Cricket Council and bilateral cricket, it becomes apparent that the former is a quite antiquated method of delivery. For instance, Zimbabwe is coming to tour [England] next year. The way things usually work is that the touring team enters the nation and is then taken care of for lodging and other necessities. However, there is no charge for the touring team. “There will be a fee for that touring team next year when we play Zimbabwe,” Gould said to former England captain Mike Atherton on Sky Sports regarding the necessity for the ECB, BCCI, and CA to guarantee competition in Test cricket.

One of the few cricketing nations that takes red-ball cricket seriously is England. The spectators, who pack the stands to witness the sport in its purest form, also lend them tremendous support.

Given the sharp decline in revenue from Test cricket TV rights and the rising expense of maintaining a competitive Test series, CWI CEO Johnny Grave was forced to declare that the ICC’s revenue-share model was fundamentally flawed. In response to accusations that the West Indies had sent a subpar team to Australia for their two-match Test series earlier in the year, in which Shamar Joseph made headlines in Brisbane with a stunning spell, Grave was speaking.

“CWI has spent over 2 million dollars sending teams to Australia in the last four months and whilst CA have received all the economic benefits from those series, we’ve seen zero dollars back,” Grave had stated to in January. “Is that really fair, reasonable and sustainable?”

Gould expressed his “sympathy” for financially struggling boards such as CWI, but he was positive that ways will be found to maintain their strength.

“Before they came, I spoke with the West Indies six or nine months ago about what support we could offer. It’s intriguing because it won’t only occur during Test match play. For instance, we played two more Twenty20 matches in the West Indies before Christmas [in 2023] to support them,” Gould said.

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“The West Indies specifically asked us to aid them with an Under-19 tour at some time so that we can get more of our players access to red-ball cricket in those [England] conditions. This was their request for this specific tour. Thus, money isn’t always the main factor. There are various approaches to achieving it, he continued.