OPINION
Follow UsIn a landmark move, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) have announced that men and women cricketers will receive equal match fees across formats, be it at the international level or at the domestic level. However, it will the players from the men’s side who will earn more than the women, given that they play more matches. Regardless, it is a move that none of the other boards have even gotten close to taking and one that should be lauded.
Not just cricket, pay disparity has existed across sports for years, but very few have had the vision to take action and bridge the gap.
New Zealand – be it the Blackcaps or White Ferns – are always known for the competitive cricket they play remaining in the framework of playing in the spirit of the game. They can be proud of the fact that their board too has championed and implemented a key aspect that not many have ever been inclined to do.
So what is NZC’s latest pay structure going to be like?
Both men and women will now earn $10,250 per Test, $4,000 every ODI and for T20Is they will receive a sum of $2,500 per match.
Fees per match for domestic cricket:
Plunket Shield: $1,750
Ford Trophy/Hallyburton Johnstone Shield: $800
Super Smash: $575
*All figures in New Zealand Dollars
The disparity in pay between men and women cricketers is pretty evident in the way BCCI, the richest board in the world has gone about things. To put things into perspective the players belonging to the lowest grade among men, draws an annual salary of INR 1 crore, while the highest salary a women cricketer receives is INR 50 lakh.
India Women star batter Smriti Mandhana, however, does not see this as an issue given that it is men’s cricket that brings in the revenue. While the following and interest in India for women's cricket is on the rise, there is still some time to go before the gap is bridged.
"We need to understand that the revenue which we get is through men's cricket. The day women's cricket starts getting revenue, I will be the first person to say that we need the same thing. But right now, we can't say that," Mandhana had said in 2020.
Women’s IPL has been discussed plenty of times in the last five years, but it is yet to see the light of day. The maximum the Indian women cricketers have got is a four-team T20 exhibition match played in the middle of IPL, that lasts four days or so.
Well before NZC’s major step, Cricket Australia too had acknowledged the monetary gap between its men and women cricketers and had vowed to do something to reduce it even though their women cricketers and among the most well-paid cricketers in the world.
In fact, in a grand gesture, CA dished out USD 600,000 to the Australian women’s team that won the T20 World Cup in 2020 in order to make up for the difference in ICC’s price money, which was a lot higher for the men’s edition.
"We pride ourselves over recent years on really leading the charge about driving equality in cricket and particularly investing in the growth of cricket as a sport for women and girls," CA CEO Nick Hockley had said in October last year.
"But there's still a gap, there's still a really big gap, as compared to their male counterparts.
"And we want to keep striving to make it a really attractive and credible full-time professional career for our up-and-coming female cricketers."
In the same tournament where India finished runners-up, the BCCI announced a cash prize of INR 3.75 crore, while their male counterparts received INR 41.63 crore despite exiting the tournament in the group stage the following year.
It might be a long way to go for certain countries to bridge the gap, but NZC’s decision in the right direction gives hope that the other boards might follow suit. While it may not happen any time in the near future, the wheels have well and truly begun to roll with New Zealand leading the way.
