CWI’s Johnny Grave doubts $15 mn Test fund plan would ‘make any difference’

New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) Johnny Grave, the outgoing CEO of Cricket West Indies (CWI), has expressed doubts on the proposed 15 million USD Test fund making any difference to growing the longer format of the game.

Various reports have suggested that the International Cricket Council (ICC) could propose a dedicated Test fund for supporting and holding the longer format games in nations outside of the Big 3 – Australia, India and England.

It is a brainchild of Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird, which will also have a minimum standard match fee for players worth 10,000 USD. But Grave, whose term as WI CEO ends on October 2024, doesn’t think the initiative will be enough to save 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. 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,” aid Grave on Talksport’s ‘Following On’ podcast.

Grave further pointed out how the Test fund money is more of a rounding error for some other sides, adding that what’s needed to save the longer format is playing three-match series, putting in dedicated Test windows and more ‘A’ team series.

“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.

“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,” he elaborated.

At the same time Grave felt the proposed Test fund reflects a change in the mindset of having more strong oppositions in the longer format, citing the mindset shift brought in after the West Indies and USA were co-hosts of the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

“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. 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,” he concluded.

–IANS

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