“Test players should be paid a hell of a lot of money”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen is concerned about the dwindling popularity of Test cricket and believes that players need to be paid more should the format want to make a comeback.

Pietersen pointed out that players are being lured to compete in domestic Twenty20 tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) due to the hefty salaries on offer.

“Something has to be done for Test cricket to survive, because I know first-hand, having coached kids from all around the world about a month ago with my foundation in Dubai, that they’ve got no interest in Test cricket. None,” Pietersen was quoted as saying by  the Sydney Morning Herald. “Test players should be paid a hell of a lot of money. That’s the only way they’re going to get the guys back playing. They should get paid so much more money than we get paid playing domestic tournaments.”

Pietersen used the West Indies as an example of where their star players are currently representing different franchises in the BBL, while the national team are playing against Australia in a Test series.

The West Indies have already lost the series heading into the third and final Test in Sydney as Australia hold a 2-0 lead after having won the first two matches in Hobart and Melbourne.

“The ICC controls world cricket and they should say: ‘Right, we need Gayle, we need even (Kieron) Pollard, we need (Darren) Sammy, we need (Dwayne) Bravo, we need Andre Russell,” he said. “Andre Russell is bowling at 150km/h, whacking big sixes in the Big Bash. He should be doing that in a Test match, he shouldn’t be doing it here.

“It’s just a sad state of affairs that these guys here, who are star attractions all around the world and they command big numbers from T20 franchises, it’s just sad they’re not playing the longer form of the game.”