Change coming to WBBL as women cricketers get pay boost

Australian cricketers in women’s domestic competitions will earn an average salary of $160,000 under a new multimillion-dollar action 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 move to a 40-game regular season – in line with the BBL. A new domestic women’s Twenty20 competition will be introduced to “create additional high-performance opportunities for domestic players”.

The WBBL will move to a 40-game season.Credit: Getty Images

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 “female-friendly” infrastructure, growing girls grassroots participation rates to 100,000, and increasing the average annual attendance for all women’s cricket to 600,000.

The half-a-billion-dollar investment into infrastructure will be funded via a range of backers, including state governments and the sport’s infrastructure fund.

Chief executive Nick Hockley said on Tuesday that Cricket Australia had analysed how much money was needed to make Australia’s cricket centres gender-equal.

“We feel that level of investment is required across the country. That’s certainly the ambition,” he said.

WBBL contracts jumped in value last season under a new pay deal, with the top tier of players earning better than $100,000 for the 2023 tournament due to the salary cap doubling in value.

That salary cap will be maintained for the WBBL, despite the number of games being reduced.

“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,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.

What Cricket Australia aims to achieve by 2034 under the new plan

• 600,000 average annual attendance for all women’s cricket in Australia. 
• Growing total revenue from women’s cricket to $121 million (an increase of $100 million).
• Increasing participation by 5–12-year-old girls from 25,000 to 100,000. 
• $500 million invested in infrastructure for women and girls’ cricket. 
• At least 40 per cent female representation in key positions across Australian Cricket (including executives, boards and community cricket roles). 
• Winning gold medals at the 2028 and 2032 Olympics.

Former Australian cricketer and longtime administrator Christina Matthews said there was a long way to go to achieving equity in both paid and voluntary positions across cricket.

“[There needs to be] lived experience of what it’s like to play the game from a female perspective. We can’t always assume the game is the same for everybody, and you can’t just cut and paste what’s happened for the men’s and do the same for women,” Matthews said.

This year Cricket Australia posted a median total remuneration gender pay gap of -0.4 per cent, meaning the midpoint for men’s pay was lower than the midpoint for women’s pay across the organisation.

The action plan will also focus on filling stadiums and growing audiences for international competitions.

Last WBBL season featured the introduction of the “Stadium Series”, aiming to draw in big crowds before the finals. During that round, just under 6000 flocked to the MCG to watch the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades play the last game of their season.

Hockley said there was a lot of work to be done to ensure big attendances.

“We’ve seen what is possible with transformative moments such as 86,174 fans packing the MCG for the T20 World Cup final, which remains the highest attendance for a female sporting event in Australia,” he said.

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.

“It is also extremely important that the increased interest in women’s sport is reflected in sponsorship and broadcast deals, and I hope this plan will continue to drive this growth so that women’s cricket continues to thrive.”

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