India series as commercially important as the Ashes, says ECB chief executive
Richard Gould talks about how five-Test series have led to a resurgence of Test cricket, and why the WTC isn’t the “be-all and end-all” for England
Matt Roller17-Jun-2025″We know how big it is,” says Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, as cricket vies to take centre stage in English sport over the next six weeks. “It is a huge summer.”English cricket struggled for any level of cut-through last year. It was the Paris Olympics and the men’s football European Championships that drew the attention of the casual sports fan and an underwhelming international summer of cricket fell flat: the abiding image was the backdrop of thousands of empty seats at Lord’s when England wrapped up their series win over Sri Lanka.But the next six weeks will provide a rare chance to capture the imagination of the British public, against a relatively quiet set of rival events. India are in town for men’s, women’s, A team, age-group and Disability series, and after England swatted aside Zimbabwe’s men and two underperforming West Indies teams, Friday’s first Test at Headingley marks the start of the main event.”Last summer, there were all sorts of things happening all over the place, weren’t there?” Gould says at Lord’s. “I think that is one of the great things about a five-Test series: it is a proper long-read; it’s something that people can get really into. There will be subplots, and sub-subplots. There will be all sorts of issues over that six-week period.”Related
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India’s men have not won in England since 2007, and three of their all-time greats – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin – have quit Test cricket in the last six months. But their off-field dominance of the global game is such that the ECB now considers a Test series against India on par with the Ashes. “Certainly, in terms of commercial importance,” Gould says.Most tickets were sold before the end of last year, and Gould was buoyed by India’s recent tour to Australia – their first five-Test series there since 1991-92. “There’s been lots of discussion about short formats, but Test cricket is doing quite a resurgence in its own way,” he says. “Particularly with the five-Test series: we’re seeing more of those than we have done for a long time.”England’s next two Test series – at home to India, then away in Australia – will be the sixth and seventh five-match series of the decade, after nine in the 2010s. For the last 20 years, five-Test series have been the preserve of the Big Three, but for the 2027-31 Future Tours Programme, the ECB is exploring the viability of playing another opponent across five Tests.The most compelling candidates are South Africa, not least after their victory over Australia to win the World Test Championship. England have not embraced the tournament as wholeheartedly as many of their opponents, but the freshly minted Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy will mark the start of a new cycle for both teams – though perhaps not a new attitude towards it.”The WTC, for us, is not the be-all and end-all,” Gould says, speaking before last week’s final, “because we also enjoy the Ashes and we will enjoy the India series.”Pragmatically, financially, those are things that underpin the sport in England, and I don’t see that changing. We’re very fortunate in that we are able to contribute to the ICC model, but we also have a really strong game here in our domestic market.India last played a Test series in England in 2021 and 2022, and drew 2-2•PA Photos/Getty Images”For Australia, India and England, those three Test series [against one another] are the very first things that go into the FTP, bar none.”There is no immediate prospect of them happening more regularly. “Those are scheduled out to 2031 already, and we’ll probably try to get them scheduled out to 2035 as soon as we can.”The ECB lobbied unsuccessfully for changes to the WTC’s model, proposing changes to the penalties for slow over-rates, and advocating for a sliding-points scale based on the quality of opposition. “Test cricket is richer for the event, despite its peculiarities,” Gould says. Until England qualify for a final, their complaints will sound like sour grapes.Last week’s final was the third in a row staged in England, and the ICC is expected to confirm at July’s annual conference that England will retain hosting rights despite interest from India. “We don’t think that we’ve got any absolute right to be the continual host of the WTC [final], but there are advantages to having it here,” Gould says.”Irrespective of who gets into the final, we will sell it out… We’re probably the only member nation within the ICC that could deliver that. We recognise that perhaps others would like to take it around the world at some point… But the worry is if you move it, end up with two neutral teams, and don’t get a crowd, the whole thing could devalue and deflate pretty quickly.”India’s commercial heft means that Gould is always conscious of his relationship with the BCCI, never more so than during a bilateral series between the two teams. He has a new counterpart in Devajit Saikia, who became secretary after Jay Shah’s uncontested election as ICC chair. And Gould says that ties between the boards are “really very strong and deep”.Recent cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan indirectly tested that dynamic. The ECB brought Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler and Will Jacks home from the IPL before the tournament’s rescheduled playoffs, for an ODI series against West Indies, despite the misgivings of those players’ franchises, though Jonny Bairstow and Richard Gleeson were granted no-objection certificates as replacements.All three WTC finals have been held in England so far•Getty ImagesThe political situation has also led the ECB to increase India’s security detail during their tour. “It is something that is constantly at the forefront of our mind,” Gould says. “Additional provisions have been made ready, just to provide the confidence and the comfort that everybody requires… We plan for all eventualities.”The true extent of India’s dominance at the ICC level will become clear at next month’s annual conference, the first of Shah’s tenure. The BCCI already takes home 38.5% of the ICC revenue under the model devised for the 2024-27 cycle, over five times more than the ECB; an Indian chair is only likely to further ensconce its power within the sport’s global body.But Gould insists that India are responsible global citizens, arguing that the share of ICC revenues they retain is far smaller than the proportion they create through lucrative broadcast deals. “The dominance comes from the fact that most of the product that is purchased comes from the Indian market,” he says.”One of the beauties and frustrations of membership organisations is, they are very democratic. Those checks and balances are largely in play through that democratic basis, and it is one member, one vote. Clearly when there are big things in play, there’s lobbying, but it is essentially run along democratic lines.”Having all ICC events in India would drive a lot of value, but all of the members know that they want to take cricket on a more global journey than that, and that’s why you see events in Pakistan, West Indies, and even New York. These are all significant statements in terms of cricket being a global game, while understanding that much of the revenue comes from India.”Yet cricket’s financial inequities provide obvious challenges. While the ECB can retain its best male players thanks to lucrative central contracts and has invested heavily in the women’s game, opponents with fewer resources are struggling.”The most important thing is to make sure that we’ve got competitive tours and tournaments, and that’s not always possible,” Gould says.Gould expects the revenue generated from the sale of the Hundred franchises to filter down and fund the development of the wider game in England•Getty Images”At times, we will end up playing against countries where there’s a mismatch – and that may be us, or it may be them. The investment we are putting into the women’s game is going to have an accelerating effect in terms of the quality of cricket we’ve got here. We need to acknowledge that we’re lucky in terms of the resources we’ve got, and not all members are sufficiently lucky.”Those boards may roll their eyes in frustration at the ECB, with private investment – and subsequent salary increases – in the Hundred only likely to accelerate the talent drain away from international cricket. The £520 million sales of stakes in the eight franchises are not yet complete, but the board remains confident that they will be signed off soon.Gould predicts “a layering or tiering” of short-form leagues in the coming years: “The PSL and the IPL is a very good example of that, and we’ll see more of that. It happens in other sports. Look at European soccer: everybody is tiered, but then there is competition within those tiers – can the Bundesliga overtake the Premier League or La Liga?”He also believes that the first-class counties are “starting to grasp” the scale of opportunity that funds from the Hundred’s sale will create. “Normally, if a sporting investment is sold, somebody trousers some money and ends up buying a yacht somewhere,” Gould says. “That’s not happening here: every single pound that’s coming in is going to strengthen the sport.”You’ll have the Hundred sitting there as ostensibly an apex of the sport, but all the money that’s coming in is within the pyramid further below. Whether it’s women and girls’ participation, marketing, quality of pathway pitches, facilities, floodlights, all of that is going to receive a huge investment, which, in the end, will also add value to what the investors are buying into.”The Hundred will again dominate the month of August in English cricket, with a clear window and no clashes against international fixtures this summer. But for now, the focus falls squarely on Test cricket and a series that rarely fails to deliver.