ICC to adapt Cricket Australia's suggestion to set up Test fund: Report

Cricket Australia's (CA) suggestion of raising USD 15 million or more to keep the best players in Test cricket is likely to be adopted by the ICC. With many lucrative T20 franchise leagues like the Indian Premier League (IPL) tempting cricketers away, Test cricket has taken the brunt. Even the cricketing boards outside the top three nations often struggle financially to send their teams overseas.

Keeping that in mind, Australia are going to work closely with India and England — the three teams that earn massive money — to make Test cricket as lucrative as the T20 leagues, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The funds collected will ensure that a minimum Test payment is made to all the players and will also play a huge role in covering the costs of overseas tours. Notably, Cricket West Indies (CWI) spent USD 1 million to send their men's and women's teams to Australia last summer.

CA chairman Mike Baird, who initially pitched this idea in January, is delighted to see it getting legs. "It is fantastic to see some momentum behind the Test match fund," Baird said as quoted by Sydney Morning Herald.

"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."

BCC secretary Jay Shah, too, is on board with this concept. "There should be a dedicated fund for Tests, whether it is 5 million USD, 10 million USD or more. It is expensive to host teams for five-day Tests, so we are preparing for it. If the [ICC] board agrees, we are ready to do it," Shah said earlier this week.

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