Cricket Australia brings in massive pay boost for female cricketers with new financial deals
Cricket Australia has signed a five-year deal with the Australian Cricketers’ Association and the deal will benefit the leading Australian female cricketers. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will double the salary cap in the WBBL to AU$ 732,000 per team from the upcoming season.
The admirers of female cricket have raised their voices over the years around the pay gap between men and women cricketers. However, the WPL reduced the difference to some extent a few months ago. Now, Cricket Australia(CA) has also brought positive news with a new Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the Australian Cricketers’ Association for five years.
Women’s cricket turned out to be a huge financial winner in the deal as the WBBL salary cap was doubled to AU$ 732,000 per team. The MoU could also see multiple Australian stars break the million-dollar bracket in the future. Top centrally-contracted players will earn AU$800,000 after combining the national deal and their WBBL salary. Also, the average earning of domestic cricketers will see a rise and their average earnings are going to be around A$151,000.
Australia Cricketers’ Association CEO Todd Greenberg also asserted that these Australian female cricketers will become million-dollar athletes in the future.
"I think we'll have a few of them [earning a million] in the next few years. Some of our girls who are playing in India earn significant amounts of money in the WPL, and on top of this deal now, they will become million-dollar athletes. And so they should because they're the best in the world at what they do,” Greenberg stated.
The country’s cricket board will also women’s national contract list from 15 to 18 and the players will also get a 25 percent hike in the amount they earn through national duty. Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley also expressed his joy for the development in women’s cricket
"Cricket now clearly offers the best earning opportunities of any team sport for elite female sportspeople. I am particularly pleased that this MOU represents another major step forward in the rise of women's cricket with significant increases in remuneration for the inspirational role models of the world champion Australian women's team and the WBBL, who are driving substantial growth in female participation,” he stated.