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Mansingh says ICC must increase funding for ‘minor countries’ Predicts they will face financial crunch similar to Windies
October 01, 2026
SPORTS MEDICINE specialist Dr Akshai Mansingh has laid blame at cricket’s world governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), for teams such as the West Indies experiencing tough financial times.
“The ICC must decide whether they want to make this a global sport or not,” a strident Mansingh told STAR Sports in an exclusive interview.
Austerity cuts
His comments follow austerity cuts announced by CEO of Cricket West Indies (CWI), Chris Dehring, including reduced player contracts and the suspension of two major tournaments to rebalance the finances of the regional board.
Mansingh noted that the ICC must quickly work out “whether they want it (cricket) to be something that fills the coffers of the top cricketing nations,” alluding to the ‘Big Three’ cricket-playing nations.
“So when 80 per cent of your revenues are going to India, Australia and England, all the other countries are going to struggle with development,” he argued.
“…And what you’re seeing in the West Indies is going to be mirrored in Zimbabwe, in New Zealand, in Afghanistan, and just about all of the other minor countries when we talk about internal size, Ireland, Pakistan as well,” Mansingh added, stating that there’s a serious problem.
Commenting further, the sports medicine specialist reasoned that the CWI’s financial issues were exacerbated by a “very hastily started franchise system” a decade ago.
“I say hastily started because it was not thought through, and it was imposed on the territories very quickly,” he said. “And what that meant was that about 60 per cent of the running expenses were given by Cricket West Indies for the franchises, and 40 per cent had been raised by the local franchises, 40 per cent. And that was untenable,” Mansingh told STAR Sports.
CWI’s position
Dehring, meanwhile, has addressed concerns surrounding CWI’s financial position, including questions about the organisation’s ability to meet its obligations and continue investing in cricket.
“Insolvency is not a word I would use,”. Dehring said while speaking on the Mason and Guest Show on Tuesday. “The nature of a sporting organisation like Cricket West Indies is not about just generating (funds). Whatever money is made, it is put into cricket development,” The CWI CEO added.
Mansingh proposed solutions involving both the ICC and CWI, including greater support for high-level coaching and player development.
“Then from a cricket westerner’s point of view, I think that’s a view as to whether it’s more important to have developmental camps, have developmental cricket and have competitive cricket from which you pick a pool of players, or whether it makes more sense to have a centralised system where you reduce the cut,” he reasoned
“I haven’t heard anything about reducing staff and you process these high performance centres with what sounds like very little monitoring from any high-level coaching staff,” Mansingh further explained, pointing to the cutting of central and regional franchise contracts.
