Cricket Australia (CA) and Australia Cricketers’ Association (ACA) have signed a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will boost the pay scale of contracted women’s cricketers. The MoU signed in Melbourne on April 3 announced an increase in payments for all centrally contracted cricketers, with female players getting a boost of almost 66 percent.
Keeping in mind the success and popularity of women’s cricket leagues all over the world, and with the successful opening edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in India, the competition has increased. To ensure that the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) remain competitive, ACA has doubled the salary cap of WBBL to AUD$ 732,000 per team.
Earlier this year, Australia’s Women’s team won a record-breaking sixth ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title in South Africa. The team led by Meg Lanning was also successful in 2022 when they won the ICC Women’s World Cup trophy for the seventh time with a victory over England in the final in New Zealand.
After the new MoU, many Australian Female Cricketers will come under the million-dollar bracket considering they are earning well in overseas countries as well. The players who are centrally contracted can now earn AUD $800,000 by combining national and WBBL deals. Australian Female cricketers’ 75 per cent earning comes from WBBL and domestic tournaments, i.e. The Women’s National Cricket League, now will be AUD$ 151,000.
The Australia Cricketers’ Association CEO, said, “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 are the best in the world at what they do.”
