ICC announcing equal pay for men’s and women’s cricket tournaments is a major milestone in the women’s game. In a groundbreaking announcement, 13 July, prize money parity was declared for men’s and women’s teams at ICC events.
Meeting in Durban, South Africa, the ICC announced that equal prize money will now be given to women and men cricketers. According to ICC Chairman Greg Barclay, it is an important moment in the history of our game that male and female cricketers competing in ICC’s global competitions will now be rewarded equally. The decision was taken at the ICC Annual Conference in Durban, South Africa and ensures the ICC Board fulfilled its commitment to reaching prize money equity by 2030 well ahead of schedule.
ICC working in this direction since 2017
- Since 2017, the ICC has been working towards equal prize money.
- Prize money has been increased in women’s competitions every year.
- From now on, this decision of ICC will be applicable in all formats of cricket, whether it is Cricket World Cup, T20 World Cup or Under-19 World Cup tournament, the same prize money will be given as ICC male cricketers.
Comparison in prize money of male and female cricketers:
- In the 2019 Men’s Cricket World Cup, Champions England got 28.4 crores while runners-up New Zealand got 14.2 crores.
- In comparison, the Women’s ODI World Cup winning team got $1.5 million (Rs 12.30 crore) from the 2017 tournament in England.
Prize money in recent ICC events
- In the last 50 over men’s World Cup, champions England got USD 4 million and runners-up New Zealand received USD 2 million.
- The winners and runners-up at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 and 2023 received $1 million and $500,000 respectively, which was five times the amount offered in 2018.
- The prize money for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022, too, rose to $3.5m from the $2m that was awarded for winning the 2017 edition in England.