London, July 17
Former England cricketer Mark Butcher has called for better cost sharing among full member nations and more warm-up matches for touring teams to make sure more competitive Test cricket takes place outside of teams like India, England and Australia.
In the first Test at Lord's, England defeated Windies by an innings and 114 runs within just three days. The game did not last for seven seasons in total as final wickets of the game fell before the lunch on day three. Ahead of the Test, West Indies could play just one warm-up game against England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Select XI in which several team members could not participate as they were stuck in Hurrican Beryl.
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher expressed the importance of more warm-up matches and onus on wealthier full member nations to bear some of the costs for the touring sides.
"One warm-up match - regardless of whether or not you have been playing or whether you have not been playing any red-ball cricket, even if you come into it off the back of a West Indies first-class summer--one touring match in English conditions is just simply not enough. Let alone the fact that you have got batters making debuts, guys who have not played a lot of first-class cricket, let alone Test cricket," said Butcher.
"All of that adds up to what we ended up with, which was two days and less than a session for the match. In fact, if it hadn't been--and it's not a sideshow--but if it had not have been for Jimmy's [Anderson] last Test match, it would have been very forgettable, barring the value to the debutants for England that did so well."
Notably, during their tour to India this year, England did not play any warm-up matches in India, but they instead had a 10-day training camp in Abu Dhabi before arriving in India.
Butcher said that West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder had once talked about how difficult it is for touring parties to stay and spend time in countries they are touring because of the cost.
"He said that, back in the old days, I cannot remember how long ago this was now but back when I started playing Test matches, there was a revenue-sharing agreement in terms of television money whereby the touring team would pick up a percentage of what was made throughout the course of the series. That would either cover the cost or give them [the touring side] a bit of a buffer once their costs were paid for," said Butcher.
"But now, nothing goes to the touring team. So the cost borne by flying your team over, putting them up for however long it might be--it might be a month, it might be three weeks--is all borne by the home board. We know that times are tough everywhere but England, India, and Australia. So there are reasons behind it and I hope it did not come across that I mean that the players do not want to come away on a tour anymore, there might be a bit of that, which I do not know, but more likely it is that the boards simply cannot afford for their side to be away for six to eight weeks and be ready to be much more competitive," he added.
Butcher said that there needs to be an agreement between full member nations about cost sharing, where a more financially weaker team is helped out in terms of cost-bearing for a tour. He pointed out that the rise of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka during the 80s and 90s was possible because they were helped out when they were not big cricket nations.
"There needs to be an agreement - and it is for the good of the game as a whole; the more competitive it is, the more watchable the game becomes, as it has always been. It is always incumbent on the people who have more to give a leg up to the people who have less. We have 12 Test-playing nations. You could argue whether that is a good or a bad thing, but the reason behind Sri Lanka being able to win a World Cup in 1996, India now being the preeminent team in the world, Pakistan being a huge force as they were through the 1980s and 1990s, was due to the fact that they were helped out in the times where they were not," said Butcher.
Butcher argued that there cannot be a situation where a team ends up being the "only show in the town".
"You need people to play against and in order to have people to play against, they need to be able to keep their heads above water. Sometimes that means they need a bit of help from someone else," he concluded.
The second Test between England and West Indies will start from Thursday onwards at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
England playing eleven for the second Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir
West Indies' Playing Eleven (2nd Test): Kraigg Brathwaite (C), Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva (WK), Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Kirk Mckenzie, Gudakesh Motie, and Jayden Seales.