ECB announces £3.5m funding boost for women’s domestic cricket with number of professional players rising to 80 | Cricket News

The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced a £3.5million increase in funding for the women’s domestic game which will increase the number of professional players and raise the average salary.

In addition to the England Women’s centrally-contracted players, there will be 80 ECB-funded professionals in women’s domestic cricket next year, up from 40 in 2020 and 48 in 2021.

The overall salary pot per team will grow to £250,000 from February 1, 2023 when there will be 10 professional players across the eight regions, meaning an average salary of £25,000 per player.

Each region – Central Sparks, Loughborough Lightning, North West Thunder, Northern Diamonds, South East Stars, Southern Vipers, Sunrisers and Western Storm – will have seven professional players from November 2022 with that increasing to 10 three months later.

ECB interim CEO Clare Connor said of the funding, which will run until the end of 2024: “Everyone within cricket should be immensely proud of the game-changing progress of professional women’s domestic cricket since the implementation of the Transform Women’s and Girls’ Cricket Action Plan began in 2020.

“The significant increase in funding we are announcing will not only continue to drive the performance standards of our domestic players across England and Wales, giving the women’s game more strength in depth, but critically we are creating a more equitable future for women and girls in our sport.

“Young girls have a clearer pathway in cricket than ever before, and the belief that they too can aspire to be professional cricketers.

“As of February there will be nearly 100 professional female cricketers in England and Wales. There were fewer than 20 before we launched the new regional structure in 2020.

“We’re indebted to the hard work of everyone: players, support staff and the administrators who have backed the vision and driven this change – and to the PCA, for the important role they’ve played in supporting this progression with their continued collaboration.

“Combined with the dramatic impact of The Hundred, we are seeing the benefits of professionalisation and collaborative ways of working and cricket is thriving as a result.”

The ECB says there will also be an increase in staffing salaries and capacity, with a focus on the science and medicine provision.