The most lucrative cricket league in the world, the Indian Premier League (IPL), can save world cricket during the financial crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. So says former International Cricket Council (ICC) committee member and former president of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Dave Cameron.
The Jamaican businessman said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can play a major role in supporting other cricket boards to ensure that they continue supplying top quality players for its Twenty20 (T20) tournament.
Cameron said: "The cricket world has been affected financially as has most things. The ICC is not certain to host the World T20 in October in Australia where they can rake in some substantial money. It is possible that their subventions to the national cricket boards, could be decreased. This can cause problems for the less wealthy cricket boards that really depends on the finances from the ruling body.
"There has been a lot of talk of that the IPL might play, if this happens then representation can be made to the BCCI to give better compensation to the national boards where the foreign players come from and this although no where close to saving a board, can help somewhat.
"When I was president we negotiated with the BCCI for a fee for our players, which was agreed to be 10 percent of their salary. This was later moved up to 20 percent. So when CWI got that 20 percent from the BCCI for a particular player, we kept one-third, one-third was sent to the territorial board of which the player came from and one-third was sent to the players' domestic club."
Cameron said that his board was able to negotiate terms successfully with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
"We were able to get commitments from the PCB and the BCB for a fee for our players but England, Australia and South Africa refused.
"One must remember that the boards would normally invest in the development of the player. And if these T20 leagues around the world want to snap them up, then they must pay some sort of fee to the associations that invested in them.
"The IPL is the richest league in cricket and if they can give a little more than they are doing, this will help the individual cricket boards. In the case of the West Indies, this can help fund the expenses for the Professional Cricket League which has improved our game. There are a number of players to be paid monthly retainers and if some more money comes the way of the board, with no cricket being played at the moment, then this can help.
"One must keep in mind that when the IPL is played, international cricket around the world is stopped for that period because they have a window given to them by the ICC. This is the time for the ICC to make a representation for the other boards to be better compensated in order to save the cricket during this difficult time.
"They need to act because there coffers will also be strained given the absence of world events, where they make their money."