ECB to pay Zimbabwe touring fee for Test 2025

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will become the first host board in the modern era to pay a touring fee in bilateral cricket when Zimbabwe arrive for a one-off Test next year, ECB chief Richard Gould said, reports Reuters.

Gould told Sky Sports on Friday that the ECB and other financially strong boards, such as the Indian and Australian boards, had a huge responsibility to ensure the competitiveness of Test cricket. The longest format of the sport has become less popular outside the game's heartlands amid the global rise of lucrative Twenty20 leagues and as smaller countries struggle to meet the growing financial costs of Test cricket.

"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 said.