(Reuters) - 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.
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.
"Normally 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."
The test is set to be played in May at a venue yet to be decided. It will be the first time Zimbabwe travel to England for bilateral cricket since 2003.
(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
