The outgoing Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave reckons the idea of paying players a fee of US $10,000 for a Test match is "not even window dressing," suggesting that the proposed US $15 million Test fund will not "make any difference to anything."
Recent reports suggested that the ICC could propose a dedicated fund from next year to reinforce Test cricket in nations outside of the Big 3, Australia, India and England. The initiative which is driven by Cricket Australia (CA) chair Mike Baird, has the support of the BCCI and the ECB, and is aimed at creating a central fund by which there will be a minimum standard match fee for players across the board, reported to be around US $10,000.
Grave, who is stepping down as CWI CEO in October 2024, appreciated the initiative but didn't feel that it is going to be the "saviour of Test cricket."
"Cricket as a game needs to think much more as a league and needs to understand everyone's business models a bit better," Grave said on talkSPORT's Following On podcast. "I think there are some positive noises from the Big 3, I think the Test fund was a good initiative. I don't know if US $15 million a year will make any difference to anything.
"I think the idea of paying a Test fee of US $10,000 is not even window dressing. We pay our players US $10,000. So, I sort of smiled when I saw that come out in the press. I thought, 'how is it going to change cricket and how's that going to be saviour of Test cricket when our players are already getting paid that?' It's not going to make any difference to us.
Grave reckoned that if the ICC wanted to save Test cricket in the West Indies, it needed to organise more three-match series, have dedicated Test windows and more 'A' team programmes.
While he agreed that the Test fund was a "significant amount of money" for CWI, it was like a "rounding error" for some other sides.
"What will make a difference, in my opinion, to improve West Indies Test cricket is by playing more three-match series rather than two-match series, by having dedicated Test windows where you're not competing against franchise opportunities, or actually supporting our 'A' team programmes. We've really struggled to get 'A' team tours," Grave said.
"But actually the best stepping stone for a player to go from…I don't think any player that I've ever met in my 25 years of working in the game has said that there's very little difference between playing county championship and Test match cricket. It's completely different and the 'A' team environment does help in terms of, even if there's a difference in standards, at least you're touring, you're away from home, playing in foreign conditions. So, when you next go to England, some of the things you're facing as a human rather than as a cricketer you're a bit more accustomed to.
"And little things like that, in my opinion, will make more of a difference to West Indies cricket than US $15 million divided by 12 Test match teams. That's still significant money to Cricket West Indies but it's a rounding error for lots of others."
Grave 'welcomes the slight change in mindset' of the Big 3
He, however, said that the proposed Test fund reflects a change in the mindset of the Big 3, with a desire for stronger opposition beyond just each other. West Indies and USA co-hosting the T20 World Cup 2024, and South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia co-hosting the 2027 ODI World Cup are some examples of the "change in mindset" from the Big 3, according to Grave.
"I welcome the debate and I'm not saying that I or we at West Indies cricket have all the answers, but we welcome the debate, we welcome the slight change in mindset which is the Big 3 can't just play against themselves, they've got to have a stronger opposition," he said. "We've got to get jeopardy back in, we've got to get competitive balance. To a certain extent, some of that has changed.
"The fact that we hosted the 2024 [T20] World Cup was a change in mindset and philosophy because the previous eight years, all those high-revenue men's events were exclusively held in England, Australia and India. So the fact that we've hosted with US, that South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will co-host one, New Zealand will co-host with Australia, and Ireland with England. That is a change in mindset that we welcome.
"So hopefully we continue on that path of thinking as a team, thinking like we're a game of cricket and we rely on and need each other and maybe a little bit less self-interest and a bit more love and care for the long-term future of the game would help."
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