‘At the forefront of the women’s sport revolution’: Pay boost for Australia’s cricketers

Australian cricketers in women’s domestic competitions will earn an average salary of $160,000 under a new multimillion-dollar plan to bolster growth in women and girls cricket.

Unveiled on Tuesday, Cricket Australia’s 10-year plan also includes a change to the women’s Big Bash competition, which will feature a 40-game regular season – in line with the BBL – and a new domestic women’s Twenty20 competition will be introduced to “create additional high-performance opportunities for domestic players”.

The governing body’s aim is to increase the total revenue of women’s cricket by $100 million to keep the sport “at the forefront of the women’s sport revolution”.

Among the increase in player payments, the peak body committed to a $500 million investment into infrastructure, growing girls grassroots participation rates to 100,000, and increasing the average annual attendance for all women’s cricket to 600,000.

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Outlining the change to payments, Cricket Australia announced:

“The new T20 competition will raise the average female domestic player salary for 2024-25 – inclusive of WBBL contract, state/territory contract and domestic match payments – to $163,322, an increase of $12,303 (8 per cent) on 2023-24, while the current WBBL salary cap will be maintained meaning no reduction in player payments.”

Australian cricket champion Ellyse Perry emphasised the importance of commercial growth for the sport.

“With viewing audiences increasing, the public appetite for women’s sport is now indisputable and we would love to see major stadiums filled with fans for our international and WBBL games and more girls inspired to play cricket.