Is hosting Test cricket bankrupting nations and cricket boards?

How much does it cost to host a test match?

Hosting a test match could cost between a range of $350,000 and $1.4 million. This cost is pretty high for nations that are unable to generate enough revenue from other streams. It is no surprise that for test cricket to thrive in any country, there needs to be multiple sources of revenue. 

Countries where test cricket is in poor health

In countries like New Zealand and South Africa, in spite of recent success in the format, test cricket is dying slowly. Both of these countries have won WTC Finals in the past and have produced some great players in recent years. However, there are players in these countries who have expressed their desire to play for their clubs and franchise teams instead of their national teams. 

Recently, as New Zealand was playing a test match in Zimbabwe, their best player of this generation, Kane Williamson, was busy playing in the Hundred for the London Spirit. Similarly, Heinrich Klaasen for South Africa, too, announced his retirement from international cricket when he was at the peak of his batting abilities. Apart from Klaasen it was Nicholas Pooran's retirement that caused a lot of debate among ex cricketers and fans.

Apart from New Zealand and South Africa, other countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the West Indies there are multiple issues which are contributing to the deteriorating state of cricket in these regions. These issues range from poor facilities to corruption on the boards. Among these four nations, it is the West Indies that will play the most tests in 2025, with seven. On the other hand, someone like Australia will play 11 tests while India and England will play 10 each.

Countries where test cricket is in good health

In England, where the format is seen in its healthiest form, there are different sources of revenue as well. Apart from an exceptionally well-run domestic cricket, including the County Championship, One-Day Cup, and the Vitality Blast, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also successfully holds The Hundred Men’s and The Hundred Women’s, bringing in another source of revenue.  

India is the powerhouse of cricket, and there is no country with more money in the sport than them. Thanks to their ultra-successful T20 league, the Indian Premier League, the BCCI has enough money in its cash flow to host as many test matches as it wants. However, the BCCI also shies away from giving more tests to countries apart from England and Australia, possibly due to the lack of competition. There were hardly any challenges presented to India during their 12-year unbeaten streak at home before New Zealand completed a remarkable whitewash.

Australia is yet another country where the longest format of the sport is in great health despite the board still reeling from losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to marquee series like The Ashes and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against England and India, respectively, there are massive crowds in the stadiums. 

Zimbabwe to play 11 tests in 2025

While the number of tests each country plays is decreasing around the world, it is Zimbabwe who are going to feature in the joint-most tests in 2025. The African nation will be playing 11 tests in 2025, the same as Australia. Nine of those 11 tests have already taken place. While Zimbabwe hasn’t been competitive in those games, it is a start to increase the popularity of the longest format in the country.

Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, Tavengwa Mukhulani, believes that each of the full-member nations must play all three formats. Mukhulani calls Zimbabwe a test nation with 100 tests next to their name. It has been 14 years since Zimbabwe made a comeback to the test circuit. In this span, they have played only 40 tests. To put their 11 tests in perspective, Zimbabwe had played only 12 games of the longest format from 2020 to 2024. 

How is Zimbabwe managing to play so many tests?

Unlike England, Australia, or India, where the cricket boards are ultra-rich thanks to successful T20 franchises, the Zimbabwe cricket board does not run a successful T20 league. Meanwhile, they have reported profits in each of the years from 2019 to 2022. How did they do that?

In 2022, when India toured them for three ODIs, the board reported a profit of almost $12 million. This goes on to show how Zimbabwe, like many other countries, is reliant on Indian tours. Apart from the Indian tours, the board has also profited from hosting ICC World Cup qualifying events. 

Tavengwa Mukhulani 

Zimbabwe Cricket chairman talks about how there is an “informal segregation” taking place in the cricketing world. Mukhulani is not wrong about his claim that Zimbabwe is not playing enough test cricket against the top nations. The country last played a test against Australia in 2003, while against India in 2005. Their neighbours, South Africa, too, played their first red-ball game against them after eight years. 

He compares the sport of cricket to football, where the bigger countries play against the smaller teams to help them grow. Mukhulani said, "Every one of the 12 Full Members must be given an opportunity to play against each other in all three formats. If you look at football, which has grown phenomenally globally, Brazil plays Honduras, and England plays Malta. This story that there are those who are playing on one side of the aisle and those playing on [the other] has no place in sport."

While talking about the two-tier test system, the Zimbabwe cricket chairman voiced his disagreement with the proposed plan. Mukhulani believes having a two-tier system will create further divide among the test teams. He is questioning whether having a two-tier system is viable for the smaller nations to survive. 

There is already a dearth of options while buying media rights, which could further decrease if the big teams are not part of the same tier. Mukhulani said, "As it is, we are struggling to sell our TV rights because the big boys are not on our FTP, so if you formalise it, what are we going to sell? How do we survive? The biggest question that the cricket world must answer is 'How do you want the smaller nations to survive?' Or do you even want them to survive?" 

Not being part of the World Test Championship (WTC) has also hurt Zimbabwe from not only hosting the bigger teams but also touring them. This has meant that a nation with a rich cricketing history has been brought to a standstill. By Mukhulani’s admission, no information from the ICC can help them in getting Zimbabwe into the WTC, even in the future.

Cricket Australia CEO believes in limiting test cricket

Cricket Australia CEO, Todd Greenberg, batting for the devil’s side, talked about how too much of test cricket might bankrupt nations. Greenberg called for a slimmed-down schedule of test cricket, believing that the quality of matches should be preferred over quantity. 

He believes that the marquee series, like the Ashes, will continue to be as big and profitable because it means something. The recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy broke multiple viewership records and was attended by huge numbers. What worked in generating a high level of interest was that four out of the five tests stretched till the last session of the fifth day. The fifth test too stretched till the first session of the fifth day. 

However, during the same time frame, New Zealand and South Africa steamrolled Zimbabwe at their own home in the longest format. The difference in quality between the sides has been a glaring issue for red-ball games for a while now. These games not only deplete the quality of the games but also do not bring in the viewership or the fans to the stadiums, which would decrease the loss incurred while hosting a test match. 

With the advent of the World Test Championship (WTC), pitches around the world are being made with results kept in the back of mind. These result-oriented pitches have meant that test matches are finishing in even two to three days. While these action-packed matches are great for viewing, the boards still have to pay the stadium a fee for each of the five days, incurring a loss. 

Is it financially viable for players to prefer test cricket?

For the cricket boards to generate money from test cricket, a part of the revenue comes from ticket sales and merchandising. The ticket sales can only increase if the best players are playing. However, apart from the pride of representing your national team in the longest format, there isn’t much incentive left for the players to play in a test match. 

Not only does it take five days out of the player’s life, but they can earn more than 10 times while playing in T20 leagues around the world. A test match going till the last session of the final day could last up to 32.5 hours (6.5 hours a day). Playing for the same hours, a player can play close to 10 T20 games in the same time frame. 

For instance, Nicholas Pooran would have made only $5,000 playing a test match for the West Indies. On the other hand, had Pooran played for the same amount of time in the IPL, he would earn close to $1.8 million. To put that into perspective, Pooran can make nearly 360 times what he earns while playing a test for the West Indies, while playing in the IPL for Lucknow Super Giants. Given how a sportsperson's career is so fickle and can end at almost any time, the players need to make sure that they have financial security heading into their retirement. 

For the South African player, the match fee figure drops further as they earn only $4,500 per test match. The low match fee for players in these countries puts retirements of Heinrich Klaasen and Nicholas Pooran in perspective. 

How to incentivize players to play more tests?

With the low match fees, the big question that arises is what measures should be taken to incentivize players to play tests. In countries where the passion for the format is enormous, the match fee has not been an issue. 

However, for teams like South Africa, New Zealand, and the West Indies, in spite of playing against the top teams, there hasn’t been enough motivation to keep the players motivated for test cricket. With the lack of passion among the players from a younger age, money plays an important role. 

One possible way to increase the match fee for players is by having a fairer distribution of revenue from the International Cricket Council (ICC). Currently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gets 38.5% of the revenue from ICC. A lot of countries, players, and media have questioned the ICC over the BCCI’s enormous share. At the same time, England has the second largest share at only 6.89%. This has meant that countries like South Africa, the West Indies, Bangladesh, New Zealand, and even Sri Lanka get a share of less than 5%. With a lack of other revenue sources, these countries have faced multiple challenges in motivating players to play test cricket. 

Increase the match fee

Increasing the match fee for international games seems to be the obvious, glaring solution to motivate players to play more red-ball cricket. However, for that to happen, fans as a stakeholder will have a vital role to play. There is a growing need to turn up at the stadiums in huge numbers and get behind your team. Sell-out crowds, along with the purchase of merchandise and official jerseys, can go a long way in generating revenue for the boards. Apart from the money earned from ticket sales, playing in front of a jam-packed stadium could ignite the passion in a cricketer’s body.

Discourage rejecting central contracts

Having a central contract allows the cricket boards to have better control of their players. A contract not only give the players guarantee of being paid a certain amount but also gives the boards an ability to have their best players available to play at every moment. 

However, in recent times, players have gone on to reject central contracts. Without being centrally contracted the player gets to pick and chose for which matches they wish to be available. 

What the boards can do to discourage players from this practice is to make sure that such a player does not get a chance to play for their national teams be it any format. 

Give the prime season to test cricket

The recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy had five matches jam packed in less than seven weeks. While the action that was witnessed during these days was great it could have been much better if tests were spread out further. The lack of rest in between some tests meant that there half-cooked players playing the matches. 

Jasprit Bumrah, who is unarguably the best bowler in test cricket in present times could only feature in three of the five tests. Meanwhile, only Chris Woakes and Mohammed Siraj were the two fast bowlers to have played all five tests. Woakes was injured in the final test and could not take much part in the clash. Ben Stokes too could not feature in the final test and had to sit out along with Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse. 

All this was done just to get the test series concluded by July and have the Hundred in August. By spreading the test matches a bit further the clashes could have had more players available enhancing the quality of play on display. Having evenly matched clashes of the highest quality will help the game and the format to grow further.