Zimbabwe will become the first team to receive a touring fee when they visit England for a one-off Test in the summer of 2025. This was confirmed by ECB chief executive Richard Gould during a chat with Sky Sports on Friday, July 26, during the ongoing Edgbaston Test between England and the West Indies.
Gould had hinted at this move in June last year, emphasizing the need to address the revenue disparity between some full-member nations and smaller Test-playing countries. He believes that the ECB, along with other financially strong boards like the BCCI and Cricket Australia, should ensure that Test cricket remains competitive.
“There’s a huge responsibility,” Gould said. “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.”
There has been significant discussion about the perceived unfairness of the ICC revenue-share model. Cricket West Indies (CWI) faced criticism for not sending a full-strength squad to Australia but ended the tour on a high note by drawing the series 1-1, thanks to a 7-wicket haul by pacer Shamar Joseph at the Gabba.
“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 told ESPNcricinfo in January.
“Is that really fair, reasonable and sustainable?”
Responding to the statement, Gould said, “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 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.”
ECB chair Richard Thompson recently disclosed that only 4% of the board’s annual income comes from ICC revenue distribution, with most of the revenue generated from broadcasting rights—something smaller nations like Zimbabwe or Ireland lack. He said, “We need to have really strong competitive cricket both for our men’s teams and our women’s teams across all formats. And therefore, there is a responsibility to ensure that we can share out the value that the game creates in order to keep that going. And that’s recognised by everybody. It’s just how you do it. There are different tactics in play but it is an accepted principle.”
