Speaking on the Wisden Women's Cricket Weekly Podcast, Dehring welcomed ECB’s offer to fund the women’s Test next year when England are scheduled to tour the West Indies across formats. He also revealed that the women’s cricket in the Caribbean runs on the revenue earned through men’s cricket. Dehring’s comments have come in the wake of CWI's cost-cutting measures, which includes a 25 per cent pay cut in international players' wages and the suspension of men's Super50 tournament and the women's T20 Blaze.
“The reality is that the women's game in the Caribbean is supported literally by the revenues generated from the senior men's game,” he said. “We don't have separate revenue resources to be able to fund the women's game. So, you know, the scarce resources that already exist for the men's game have to be shared with the women's game, unfortunately.”
West Indies last played women's Test in 2004
Notably, the West Indies women's team last featured in a Test match in March 2004 against Pakistan in Karachi. That fixture had also come after a 25-year hiatus following their 1979 encounter against England. Additionally, the West Indies have not hosted a women’s Test match since 1976, when they played their first-ever match in the format against Australia.
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The West Indies were also scheduled to host Australia for a one-off Test earlier this year, alongside three ODIs and as many T20Is. But the Test was scrapped with focus on "white-ball readiness ahead of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup".
Dehring is now keen on hosting England next year and also hopes for more women’s Tests, with ECB extending a helping hand.
“So any assistance that the ECB might be willing to help offset costs of hosting these kinds of tournaments would be most welcome, because we do want to play more and more women's Test cricket, more women's one-day internationals and so on,” Dehring added.
“We have it [women’s Test] budgeted, and of course it's all dependent on our revenue resources and cash flow as it occurs. So we have it budgeted. We intend to play that Test match and, you know, hopefully we'll be able to find the resources to accomplish that.”
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