Test Cricket Can Prosper If Cashed-Up Countries Take Less Of The ICC Revenue Share

Everyone was understandably giddy after an all-time great Test match kick-started the Ashes – the most hyped series in cricket.

There appeared no losers from this epic contest and that’s not just cliché with England, whose high-octane style of play ultimately proved unsuccessful albeit only just, attempting to claim the higher ground in the aftermath.

Australia’s remarkable victory against their old foes was celebrated back home to such a degree that the triumph stole the attention from the dominant football codes, which usually hog all the attention during the winter months.

It was a reminder of five-day cricket’s unparalleled charm, where its protracted length, which often seems so out of place in modern life, fuels the nerve-jangling tension like no other sport.

Inevitably traditionalists – almost condescendingly – were quick to exult the five-day format endlessly while pleading to administrators to keep the format alive amid fears for Test cricket’s future.

But what is seemingly not grasped for some is that Test cricket will be almost certainly fine for the powerhouses of Australia, England and India – each armed with domestic billion dollar media rights deals.

Series involving those countries are flourishing with Australia and India to play five-Test series in the 2024-27 cycle for the first time in decades.

The boards of these countries are still able to retain their top players and ward off – for now – the growing slew of T20 leagues luring players with big pay cheques.

Test cricket remains the pinnacle of the sport in Australia and England, a sheen that should ensure top players want to continue playing the format while inspiring the next generation.

But it’s beyond this powerful trio – often derided as ‘The Big Three’ – where things are murky and Test cricket could crater in countries where the format’s popularity is dwindling.

The depth of Test cricket is already shallow with just 12 nations and no plans for additions likely any time soon, a senior ICC official told me.

Test cricket is struggling beyond the powerhouses with star players being poached by T20 leagues as cash-stricken boards struggle to compete with the franchise cricket circuit.

Zimbabwe, who along with Ireland and Afghanistan aren’t part of the nine-team World Test Championship, has a minuscule broadcast deal worth around $1 million a year.

It’s hard for these shorthanded teams to remain competitive, while opportunities to play Test cricket are increasingly scarce given how expensive it is to host the format.

“Our Test debut against Pakistan in 2018 cost around a million Euros,” former Cricket Ireland chair and International Cricket Council board director Ross McCollum told me earlier this year.

“Our annual turnover is around 10-12 million, so it’s a sizeable chunk out of that to host Tests. It’s very difficult for us to play Test cricket.”

Administrators from these countries have brought it upon themselves to find more opportunities.

Zimbabwe chair Tavengwa Mukuhlani, using leverage built from his brief challenge during the ICC chair election last November, has formed a working group alongside New Zealand’s Martin Sneddon and England’s Martin Darlow looking at international cricket’s fixturing.

Mukuhlani, particularly, has been exploring ways to get more fixtures for long neglected Zimbabwe, who have not played a Test match against India, Australia or England since 2006.

His efforts appear to be paying off with Zimbabwe likely to end their Test drought against England in the coming years, according to The Telegraph.

With the ICC’s coffers set to deepen from the imminent new $3 billion dollar media rights deal, there is a push to improve the quality of lower-ranked Test nations and the top Associates.

The ICC’s high performance programme is set for a revival after it ran for over 15 years before being scrapped late last decade. The programme for top Associates included player development pathways and specialized administrative structures to help professionalize those deemed close to Full Member level.

Details are murky over the new high performance programme – there is a working group on the issue headed by ICC general manager Wasim Khan – although the revamped version is set to involve some of the smaller Full Members along with top Associates.

“The resurrection of the high performance programme could really help us,” Cricket Ireland high performance director Richard Holdsworth told me. “It could provide more fixtures and get the lower ranked Full Members and top-ranked Associate teams to play more against each other.”

There is fear from some Associate administrators that funding for the programme could be derived from the Associates allocation of the revenue sharing model from the media rights deal, which is set to be around 11% for the 96 Associate members.

The programme will be tabled during ICC meetings next month in Durban, where the main focus will revolve around the proposed revenue share model which sees India receiving $230 million a year or 38.5 per cent, according to a report in ESPNcricinfo.

England and Australia receive the next highest percentages albeit significantly less at 6.89 and 6.25 respectively.

According to sources, the proposed model is likely to be passed by the ICC board as is or with minor tweaks.

“I doubt we’ll see Full Members wanting to upset India,” an ICC board director told me.

One can only imagine how much significantly reducing the trio’s share of the revenue or even bypassing them all together could help strengthen the rest of the cricket world.

More available cash might resurrect a Test Cricket Fund, which had been set up in 2014 after the reviled ‘Big Three’ takeover to help the seven other Full Member nations at the time with two biannual payments totalling more than $1 million.

But the fund, which aimed to “encourage and support Test match cricket” outside India, England and Australia, was scrapped amid an overhaul of the financial model in 2016-17.

It’s, of course, rather fanciful that the power trio will have their share slashed and the reality means that the inequality continues for a sport that still struggles to shrug off its elitist perception.

Although many Associates/smaller Full Members are merely content that they will receive far more remuneration given the ICC’s media rights deal is significantly higher than the $2 billion for the 2015-23 cycle.

But it probably won’t be enough to help prosper Test cricket, which inevitably remains destined to be played amongst a handful of affluent countries who simply haven’t done enough to keep the format afloat beyond them.