Zimbabwe to receive historic touring fee in England’s 2025 test match

By Agencies

LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will be giving a “touring fee” to Zimbabwe for their upcoming one-off Test against England in 2025.

Zimbabwe will travel to the United Kingdom to play the match during the English summer.

ECB chief executive Richard Gould confirmed this development in a recent interview. Gould has previously emphasized the need for wealthier cricket boards like the BCCI, CA, and ECB to support the sustainability of Test cricket.

He mentioned the idea on the Final Word podcast last year and has since advocated for the host boards to pay a fee to touring teams.

“There’s a huge responsibility. 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,” said Gould.

“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.”

England is one of the few nations that still heavily prioritize Test cricket, and they enjoy fantastic support from fans who fill the stands for the longest format of the game.

However, the revenue from broadcasting rights for Test matches has seen a decline, and the cost of maintaining Test cricket has increased.

This financial strain has also been felt by other cricket boards. For instance, Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave has criticized the current ICC revenue-sharing model, calling it “completely broken.”

Grave highlighted the significant costs incurred by CWI for tours, such as the recent two-match Test series in Australia, from which CWI saw no financial returns.

“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 said.

Gould expressed sympathy for financially weaker boards like CWI and shared his optimism for finding ways to support them.

“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,” Gould stated.

“The specific request that came from the West Indies in this 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,” he added.