Pat Cummins: Top players should take pay cuts to save Test cricket
Australia captain Pat Cummins has suggested that leading international players should take a pay cut to help save Test cricket.
Cummins says he would be open to accepting a lower central contract as the price for providing more funding to the smaller nations to ensure they can continue to play and compete in the Test arena.
The so-called Big Three of India, England and Australia currently receive more than 50 per cent of the International Cricket Council’s central funding, although in reality there is only really a Big One.
India’s share of the ICC’s $600m annual revenue distribution is $230m, with the ECB receiving $41m and Cricket Australia $37m, still considerably higher than New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa, who all get less than $30m.
This funding directly influences the amount of Test cricket played by each country, with England playing 17 Tests last year compared to just nine by West Indies and Sri Lanka, and seven by Pakistan.
South Africa did enough in 10 matches last year to reach the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s in June, but despite this success their board has not scheduled any home Tests until October 2026, a gap of 21 months.
Cummins believes that diverting funding to the smaller countries could make a significant difference, and that top players would be prepared to make a personal financial sacrifice.
The 31-year-old made his comments in a new book, Test Cricket: A History by journalist Tim Wigmore, which was published last week.
Asked if he would be willing to take a pay-cut, Cummins said: “We’d all be open to it, if it was a really good plan. You’d look at it and see how we go through. We’ve got to find a way to keep investing in the systems that create really good Test cricket.
“In Australia we support all kinds of domestic cricket because we know how important that is to future generations and for our Australian team set-up. I think everyone’s quite open-minded, because we’re one of the lucky nations.
“We’re so lucky to have the professional system that we do. You can seek out the best coaches, amazing medical facilities all those things. Ideally you’d love every Test-playing nation to have those opportunities. How you do that is you’ve got to find money somewhere.”
ICC under fire over Test cricket
Cummins’ intervention comes at a time when the ICC, led by former Indian cricket chief Jay Shah, is being widely criticised for poor governance.
In his editor’s notes in the 2025 edition of Wisden, which was also published last week, Lawrence Booth condemned the ICC for creating a World Test Championship he described as “a shambles masquerading as a showpiece”.
The Marylebone Cricket Club also has concerns about the game’s governance and has created an annual conference, World Cricket Connects, to discuss potential solutions which will be held at Lord’s for the second time in June.
In an olive branch to the ICC, Shah has been offered a seat on the WCC Advisory Board, which also features former and current players including Sourav Ganguly, Graeme Smith and Heather Knight.
Cummins is not the only leading player unhappy with the status quo, with the international players’ union also on the warpath. In March the World Cricketers Association published its Global Game Structure Report for 2025, which included a devastating critique of the ICC.
The report found that there was a 10 per cent drop in the number of men’s Test matches played in 2017-19 to 2021-23, a 13 per cent fall in one-day internationals, but an 87 per cent increase in international T20s.
An anonymous survey of leading players also found that 60 per cent of them indicated they would consider withdrawing from international commitments to play in franchise tournaments.
Among numerous potential solutions put forward by the World Cricketers’ Association were reducing India’s share of ICC revenue, establishing a Global Game Leadership Committee, and a radical move to two-division international cricket across all formats with provision for promotion and relegation provision.