Zimbabwe to receive "touring fee" from ECB for 2025 visit

ECB Chief Richard Gould has made a major announcement on Zimbabwe's visit for a one-off Test match next year to England. He said that the visitors will be paid a touring fee when they visit England next summer in 2025.

Zimbabwe is all set to play a one-off Test match against England next summer. The development was confirmed by the ECB Chief in an interaction with SKY Sports.

It was Richard Gould who spoke at the Final World podcast last year and openly spoke about bringing an end to the pay disparity. He requested the full member nations to share their revenue to bring an end to this disparity and allow the smaller nations to play Test cricket as well and in the process, keep the sanctity of the format alive.

One of his suggestions he spoke about was for the host board to pay a fee to travelling teams and he is keen on setting the example.

Richard Gould Asks BCCI, CA To Learn From ECB

"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" Gould told former England captain Mike Atherton on Sky Sports about the need for the ECB and other financially strong boards like the BCCI and Cricket Australia to support this revenue crisis within the smaller boards.

"For example, next year Zimbabwe is coming to tour [England]. Normally the way 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" he further said on Zimbabwe's upcoming tour to England next year.

CWI CEO Johnny Grave recently spoke about the condition of Test cricket in the West Indies where the format is not being followed at all as there are no broadcasting rights. His comments came as a response to accusations that West Indies had almost sent a second-string side to Australia for the Test side. However, the opinions changed after Shamar Joseph inspired his team to a brilliant win over Australia 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.

Richard Gould meanwhile empathized with Cricket West Indies's stance on Test cricket. He spoke about how he arranged this bilateral series between West Indies and England that is currently underway. He also spoke about what methods they are likely to take on a special request from the visiting side. He said that is working out a way to host the West Indies U-19 team along with hosting the senior team currently.

West Indies are currently playing a Test series in England. They have already lost the series having lost the first two Test matches. They faced an innings defeat in the first Test and lost by 241 runs in the second. In the third Test at Edgbaston, West Indies posted 282 batting first and got England down to 38/3 at stumps on day 1.

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