Australia’s top women’s player could make $1 million under new deal

Australia captain Meg Lanning could earn $1 million a year under a new deal announced on Monday which includes a 66 per cent pay increase for professional women cricketers.

The salary cap for men’s Big Bash teams rose from $2 million to $3 million as part of a five-year memorandum of understanding between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association.

The private negotiations between CA chief executive Nick Hockley and ACA chief executive Todd Greenberg were a far cry from the acrimonious 2017 deal, which tore the game apart.

Cricket Australia said the pay rise reaffirmed the game’s status as the most lucrative team sport for Australian women.

Player payments for Australia’s all-conquering women’s squad – which holds the Ashes, 50-over and Twenty20 World Cups and created history by winning gold at last year’s Commonwealth Games – will rise from $80 million to $133 million over the term of the agreement.

This will include significant increases in Women’s Big Bash League and state contracts. Those who do not play for Australia, but compete in the Women’s National Cricket League and WBBL, will average more than $150,000 annually, including match fees.

Meg Lanning and Ashleigh Gardner in the T20 World Cup final in February.Credit:Getty Images

Under growing pressure from a rising number of Twenty20 leagues, Cricket Australia doubled the amount that top BBL players can earn to about $420,000.

Average BBL retainers will increase by more than 50 per cent  next season to more than $160,000. The minimum retainer will increase by more than 20 per cent.

The number of CA men’s contracts will increase from a range of 17-20 up to 20-24, recognising the increasing number of players selected across various formats.

Pat Cummins is Cricket Australia’s highest-paid player.Credit:Getty Images

The value of those contracts will rise 7.5 per cent in the first year, then 2 per cent a year. Captain Pat Cummins is the highest-paid cricketer in Australia with a contract worth about $2 million a year.

Male and female players will share $634 million over five years, a 26 per cent increase from an equivalent value of the $502 million shared under the current agreement, plus a performance pool of $57 million.

Under the new women’s agreement, the top CA contract holder on a WBBL deal can earn more than $800,000 a year, with the capacity to break the $1 million mark with further earnings in the Women’s Premier League (India) and The Hundred (UK).

The next six CA contract holders will have the potential to earn, on average, $500,000 annually when combined with a WBBL retainer and earnings from other competitions.

The number of CA women’s contracts will increase from 15 to 18.

Hockley said the new agreement fairly rewarded Australia’s elite players.

“I am particularly pleased 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,” Hockley said.

Greenberg claimed the new agreement showed a commitment to grow the game.

“There is enormous capacity for growth right across the women’s game, as well as the BBL, both of which we believe have enormous untapped potential,” he said.

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