The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) often takes decisions that become an example for the rest of the cricket boards of the world and this time too the English Cricket Board has done something similar. England is going to become the first host board to pay touring fees in bilateral cricket in today's modern era.

The Zimbabwe team is going to tour England next year to play a one-off Test match and for this tour, the English Cricket Board has decided to pay touring fees to a financially weak cricket board like Zimbabwe. By doing this, England will become the first cricket board to take this step.

Giving information about this, ECB chief Richard Gold said that the ECB and other financially strong boards, such as the Indian and Australian boards, have a huge responsibility to ensure the competitiveness of Test cricket. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said, “When you look at whether it is revenue sharing from the ICC or indeed revenue sharing from bilateral cricket, the way it is actually distributed is quite old.”

Speaking further, Gould said, “Normally the touring team enters the country on its own and then their boarding and lodging and everything else is taken care of, but there is no fee for the touring team. Next year when we play against Zimbabwe, there will be a fee for the touring team.”

Let us tell you that this test will be played in May, but the venue has not been decided yet. This will be the first time since 2003 that Zimbabwe will tour England for bilateral cricket.