Equal pay for all NZ cricketers

New Zealand Cricket signed a five-year deal with the players’ association in a ground-breaking agreement that will see Women’s cricketers receive the same match fees as the Men’s team.

NZC announced the signing of the deal on Tuesday, which will ensure equal pay for the women’s cricketers, both International and domestic, across all formats and all competitions.

The agreement will be in effect from August 1, and will also see professional women’s players receive equity in matters such as travel, accommodation, and the wider playing and training environment.

The improved pay and conditions are part of an agreement calculated on the country’s men’s and women’s professional players receiving 29.75% of all NZC forecast revenue over five years ($349m), expected to amount to $104m.

Translated, this means the highest-ranked White Ferns would be able to receive a maximum of $163,246 a year (up from $83,432), the ninth-ranked, $148,946 ($66,266), and the 17th-ranked $142,346 ($62,833).

The top-ranked women’s domestic players in each Major Association would be able to receive a maximum of $19,146 (up from $3,423), the sixth-ranked $18,646 ($3,423), and the 12th-ranked $18,146 ($3,423).

The agreement sees the total number of women’s domestic contracts increase from 54 to 72, all positioned as a secondary work commitment with restricted obligations, to enable players to retain full-time employment and/or study commitments.

New Zealand’s professional men’s players, whose match fees at T20I, ODI, Ford Trophy, and Dream11 Super Smash level will be the same as the women, will earn higher retainers, based on the increased number of matches played, formats contested, and time spent training and playing.