Cricket goes equal pay with women earning same as men

ECB, cricket’s national governing body for England and Wales, has announced that minimum starting salaries will be equalised across men’s and women’s professional domestic cricket from 2025.

The move means that women’s starting salaries in professional domestic cricket will be the same as their male counterparts. The move will apply both at ‘Rookie’ level – which is being introduced into the women’s game for the first time and which will typically be a player’s first professional contract – and at ‘Senior Pro’ level for players who have establishedthemselves in first teams. It has also been agreed that the eight First Class Counties with Tier 1 status in next year’s revamped domestic women’s structure will have minimum squad sizes of 15 contracted players and that they are required to invest at least £500,000 on their player salary costs in 2025. In addition, a salary cap of £800,000 per year has been agreed for FCCs with Tier 1 status.

The move to equalise starting salaries represents the latest phase of the restructuring of the women’s professional game.