Published: 07:17 PM, 10 January 2018 Last Update: 02:25 PM, 11 January 2018
Domestic T20 undermines Test cricket over financial insecurity: Shakib
Cricket's governing bodies must move quickly to close the wage gap in the international game or risk a mass exodus to domestic Twenty20 leagues, the MCC world cricket committee has declared.
Following its annual meeting, held in Sydney on Tuesday and Wednesday, the committee used the contrasting examples of the Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and the England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow to highlight the vast discrepancies in player wages around the world.
Shakib told the committee, which features the likes of Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum and Kumar Sangakkara, that numerous younger Bangladesh players were no longer viewing Test cricket as their goal due to the greater financial security afforded them by T20.
"Shakib spoke about coming from Bangladesh and some of the issues and dramas they've had over the years but he also spoke about the ICC needing to take control of where the money goes because he knows a lot of money is going to the right place but it's not getting through to the players the way it probably should."
"We'd love to see the ICC get more involved in making sure the money goes where it should go - to players," Ponting said.
This Australian pointed that domestic T20 tournaments are giving players almost an easy out to not represent their country and be remunerated in a better way to play those domestic tournaments.
It's about making sure we have the best players playing Test cricket for the majority of the year and also getting them on long-term national contracts as well so [there's not] the temptation to go and play to have some security for the back part of their lives.
"Some form of minimum wage and payment structure should therefore be introduced to help close the gap and the present imbalance in international cricket", the spokesman said. However, the committee is concern of the "danger of the rich getting richer and the other countries not being able to keep up."
Wage imbalances were also addressed in the context of the women's game, which has grown exponentially in terms of exposure and marketability in recent times, underlined by the success of last year's World Cup in England and the continuing expansion of the WBBL in Australia.
Players on the committee also expressed the belief that more should be done to utilise the world's players associations as links between cricketers and the efforts of governing bodies to reduce the risks of corrupt activity around the game.
