In a historic step, the New Zealand Cricket and players association signed a historic 5-year deal for equal pay.
The deal will see women’s cricketers receive the same match fees as men across all formats. Be it Test, ODI, T20I, Ford Trophy, and Super Smash level.
Under this agreement, the number of women’s domestic contracts will increase from 54 to 72.
“This is the most important agreement in our sport, as it binds NZC, the major associations, and our players and sets the foundation to fund, grow and develop cricket,” said NZC Chief Executive David White.
White ferns captain Sophie Devine also weighed in her happiness and said, “It’s great for the international and domestic women players to be recognised in the same agreement, alongside the men.”
Men’s captain Kane Williamson also added his views and said, ” it’s an exciting time for the sport.”
Notably, there is a huge pay gap among Indian cricketers based on gender. Despite BCCI being the richest board in the world, the women cricketers are paid peanuts.
The same is for match fees. There is a huge pay difference between the Men and women cricketers.
However, Smriti Mandhana, in 2020, opined her views on the equal pay gap and stressed that women’s cricket first needs revenue similar to men’s cricket for her to demand the same fees.
“We need to understand that our revenue is through men’s cricket. The day women’s cricket starts getting revenue, I will be the first to say that we need the same thing. But right now, we can’t say that,” Smriti Mandhana had told reporters at a promotional event in 2020.