Australia and England will lead a push to establish minimum Test match payments for all male cricketers when the countries that comprise the International Cricket Council meet in Dubai from Thursday.
The international benchmark is expected to be set at the Australian Test fee of about $20,000 a match as a starting point, which is designed to make Test cricket more attractive to current and future generations of players as lucrative Twenty20 leagues lure some of the best talent away from the longer format. The minimum rate could go as high as the $27,000 fee that players who represent India currently receive.
Front of mind is exciting youngster Shamar Joseph, who bowled the West Indies to a spectacular victory in the last Test of the Australian summer in Brisbane two months ago.
While Joseph has pledged his future to playing Test cricket for the West …