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Cricket Australia negotiates landmark pay rise for female players

Xinhua, April 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australia's top female cricketers are set to become the nation's highest-paid team sportswomen, after Cricket Australia announced a landmark pay rise in the women's game on Wednesday.

Cricket Australia said its female player payment pool would be increased from 1.8 million U.S dollars to 3.2 million U.S dollars per year for the upcoming summer, meaning the top players could earn up to "six figures" per year.

Maximum retainers for the Southern Stars - Australia's national team - are set to rise from 37,000 U.S dollars to 50,000 U.S dollars. When combined with increased maximum retainers for the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) of 12,000 the base rate for Australia's best female cricketers rises to 62,000 U.S. dollars per year.

After Southern Stars match payments and tour fees are added to the players' base incomes, the top players are expected to earn in excess of six figures.

At the other end of the spectrum, lower earners are also set to get a pay rise. Minimum retainers have more than doubled, rising from 14,000 U.S. dollars to 30,000 U.S. dollars for the Southern Stars and 2400 U.S. dollars to 5500 U.S. dollars for the WBBL.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the sporting body was "determined" to encourage more women to play cricket.

"Cricket is a sport for all Australians and Cricket Australia will continue to invest heavily in the women's game in the coming years," Sutherland said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We are determined to make cricket the sport of choice for women in Australia."

Sutherland said the recent exposure and high TV ratings for the women's game meant it was an easy decision to allocate more money towards the female players.

"We have worked constructively with the Australian Cricketers' Association to reach this point and will continue to do so in our ongoing efforts to improve wages and workplace conditions for all elite female cricketers," Sutherland said.

"The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars have achieved great success on the world stage, including making it through to the recent final of the ICC World T20 in India, and are great role models for the next generation of Australia's aspiring female cricketers." Endi