The new cricket competition ‘The Hundred’ has just released a statement saying that it will offer equal prize money to both men and women, as the ECB promises to make the competition a “gender balanced” tournament. The men and women will share an overall prize pot of £600,000 with the winning teams each receiving £150,000 and the runners-up earning £75,000. The Hundred winnings are on a par with the women’s Big Bash which is great news to those women playing in the tournament.
As Heather Knight, captain of the England women’s team, stated, it’s a great step forward in the women’s game and shows that progress is being made in order to grow the sport and to make it a more equal playing field (excuse the pun). Beth Barrett-Wild, head of the women’s Hundred competition, also said that, “The ECB is committed to transforming women’s and girls’ cricket, from inspiring young girls to pick up a bat for the first time, through to establishing the women’s game as a professional career option” which again shows that the ECB are serious about promoting the women's game as much and as positively as the men's.
Despite the women’s rugby team gaining professional contracts last year, there is still no prize money in the Six Nations for them. This is clearly a vast contrast to the men’s tournament, and now The Hundred, proving that there is still a long way to go before the women get the recognition they deserve in the rugby arena but also in other sports as well. Hopefully this news will kick other governing bodies into action, especially with International Women's Day on the horizon...
Although the prize money is now identical, the same cannot be said for their salaries. The women earn around 8% of what the men receive (on average £8,000 in comparison to £82,000), and even though the ladies are not expecting parity right away, it still remains an issue that needs to be addressed, despite having taken steps in the right direction.
The women's Hundred begins with Birmingham Phoenix's match against Manchester Originals on the 22nd July with nine matches being played as double-headers with the women's fixtures played before the men's games at the same venues. The BBC will be airing some of the matches throughout the tournament with both finals already booked into the schedule. Hopefully this will be a great way to increase both fans and participants of both sexes within the sport and especially after the World Cup win in 2019 it looks like we’re on track to making cricket great again!
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