Test matches not profitable unless it’s against the Big Three
—Says former CWI president Dave Cameron
Former president of Cricket West Indies, Whycliffe “Dave” Cameron believes that it is not profitable to host Tests in the Caribbean unless it’s one of the Big Three nations of England, Australia or India.
Cameron, who recently was making a bid for the chairmanship of the International Cricket Council ( ICC) appeared on NewsX earlier this week where he shared his views on the profitability of Test matches in the West Indies and elsewhere amidst the rise of T20 Internationals.
“I dare say the West Indies need to be invited to these geographies to play because a Test match in the West Indies today is a dead-rubber unless it’s against India, England or Australia where we get revenues from television,” Cameron reckoned.
“That is not anybody’s doing or my doing, its Generation Z. They don’t want to take five days to consume the game, it’s not Dave Cameron or the ICC, it is what the demand has been and that’s the reason why T20 has flourished,” he added.
Revenue, among other things were at the root of test cricket’s downfall, said Cameron
“There are not enough persons coming out to watch the games, there are not enough revenues, advertising, sponsorships behind it,” said Cameron.
He argued that in some countries, it
would still be profitable to play the longer format.
“Now again I believe there are certain countries, certain geographies that should play Test cricket and continue to play Test cricket, England, India, Australia, Bangladesh can play, the West Indies can play,” Cameron stated.
He did not elaborate on the present system of revenue generation among the test playing nations.
CWI reported a loss of US$22 when they last hosted Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2018 and record revenues when India and England toured in 2019.