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Wednesday Morning marked a significant milestone in women’s cricket and women’s sport in Australia with Cricket Australia (CA) announcing large pay increases for elite female cricketers.
CA will almost double its financial commitment to women’s elite players in Australia, from $2.36 million to $4.23 million annually.
Many of the elite players will now be able to earn in excess of $100,000 per year, with maximum retainers increased from $49,000 to $65,000 on a Southern Stars contract.
After the inaugural season of the Women’s T20 Big Bash League, which was a resounding success and had a number of matches televised through Network Ten – the announcement this morning detailed that the maximum retainer rates for that tournament would be raised to $15,000, meaning that once match payments and tour fees were added salaries for Australia’s best could well and truly exceed six figures.
The biggest pay increases, though, have occurred in the minimum retainers, with those for the Southern Stars going from $19,000 to $40,000 and also from $3,000 to $7,000 for the Big Bash League.
The announcement from CA means the women’s cricket team, known as the Southern Stars will be the best-paid women’s sports team in the country, ahead of teams like the Matildas (Football) and Jillaroos (Rugby League).
The Southern Stars were recently involved in the ICC Women’s World T20 final against the West Indies. Gunning for their fourth title in a row , they lost in a close encounter after beating England in the semi-final.
The Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL), which is the equivalent of the men’s one day domestic competition – known as the Matador Barbeques Cup this season, won by South Australia, ending a 10 year winning streak for New South Wales – also will have increased payments, up from $7,000 to $11,000.
Joined with the Big Bash, domestic cricketers who are unable to get a Southern Stars contract will be able to earn $26,000 for the year. While it is still nowhere enough for players to be able to give up their full-time job, it is certainly a step in the right direction.
In consultation with the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA), CA will also provde elite players with immproved travel and accomidation benefits, an updated pregenancy policy, restrictions on hours of training for domestic teams to aid players working or studying and reduced commercial restrictions in the WNCL and WBBL with regards to major sponsors.
Half a million dollars has also been committed to cover private health insurance.
CA CEO James Sutherland spoke of the changes in a positive manner, detailing their plans to keep the women’s game growing in Australia:
“Cricket is a sport for all Australians and Cricket Australia will continue to invest heavily in the women’s game in the coming years,” Mr Sutherland said.
“We are determined to make cricket the sport of choice for women in Australia.
“We have worked constructively with the Australian Cricketers’ Association to reach this point and will continue to do so in our ongoing efforts to improve wages and workplace conditions for all elite female cricketers.
The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars have achieved great success on the world stage, including making it through to the recent final of the ICC World T20 in India, and are great role models for the next generation of Australia’s aspiring female cricketers.
The Women’s Big Bash League has created a revolution with outstanding ratings that make it the most popular women’s team sport in the country.
Of the more than 1.2 million people of all ages currently playing cricket in Australia almost a quarter of them are women and girls.
That number continues to grow rapidly and we will continue to support females playing the game from backyard to baggy green.”
Cricket Australia have taken a giant leap forward today for women’s sport in Australia and after plenty of debate in recent weeks about equality of pay in sport, this is a major move towards the affirmative.
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