 "Is ICC working to address pay disparity for Test cricket's growth? Ricky Ponting reveals")
synopsis
While Test cricket is the ultimate form of the sport, the lower-ranked countries are paid relatively less, leading to the lack of growth of the format. Meanwhile, Ricky Ponting has revealed how ICC is working to solve the issue of pay disparity in the format.
Australian legend Ricky Ponting feels the International Cricket Council (ICC) has a role to play in ensuring that players from smaller Test-playing nations are paid well for their services in the five-day format. Ponting gave the example of Windies cricketers who tend to choose franchise cricket over international duty for financial reasons.
In an event organised by the ICC ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and Australia at the Oval on June 7, Ponting was asked about youngsters wanting to play the five-day game in an era of Twenty20 (T20) leagues. "That question has a different answer in different countries. It has become increasingly difficult to groom the youngsters in the Caribbean for instance who want to chase the dream of playing Test cricket," the former Australia captain said.
"Their payment system in the Caribbean compared to some of the franchise leagues, it doesn't match up and Sri Lanka will be the same and Bangladesh will be the same," he added. Ponting said talks are on within the ICC to address the issue. "It is not the case in India, England and Australia. You are paid well to play Test cricket for your country and most aspire to play the Test match game. There is a role to play for the ICC here," he continued.
"...make the payments a bit more even across international Test cricket to attract players from these different countries who want to play for their country. It is something that has been spoken about at a very high level at the ICC to help that. But, in India, the feeling I get is that most of these youngsters aspire to wear the baggy blue cap and the same in Australia," he concluded.
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