The month in cricket No.6
The Big Three becomes The Big One
The ICC’s proposed revenue-distribution model leaves the game in peril, with India’s increased slice of the pie having serious ramifications for the less wealthy nations and cricket at large, writes Lawrence Booth
LAWRENCE BOOTH
Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editor and Daily Mail writer @BoothCricket
The global game is performing the strangest of tricks right now, simultaneously becoming richer and less equal – a typically cricketing sleight of hand that will keep enough countries happy in the short term but imperil the sport in the medium to long. In July, the ICC will decide at its AGM in Durban whether to vote through proposed changes to its revenue-distribution model for 2024 until 2027. If they do – and with the usual caveat that the ICC isn’t an entity per se, but the sum of its parts – everyone will get more money than before, thanks to the regularity of World Cups and the profitable slicing and dicing of broadcast rights. There is, quite simply, more dosh swilling around.