Prize money increased for women’s cricket

The worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday chose to double the prize money of the top-ranked Test team to $1 million from its existing $500,000 from April 1, next year and also increased investment in women’s cricket by five-fold.

The board approved an increased allocation of US$ 65 million as the prize money for the top ranked Test sides and for men’s and women’s ICC Events during the period 2016-2023. “This represents a 41 per cent increase in the total prize money paid to players compared to the previous eight-year cycle”, the ICC said in a statement.

The Test Cricket Fund amounting to $70 Million which was approved a year ago has been made available to all the Test members from 2016 with the exception of India, Australia and England.

The governing body has also announced that it will send director Giles Clarke – the former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board – and chief executive David Richardson to meet with the global Olympic Committee next month.

This means that the prize money pool of the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup has been increased to $1 million.

In an effort to aid the development of the Associate and Affiliate members, the ICC board has allowed a funding of $208 million for the period between 2016 and 2023.

The agreement, which runs through 2023, confirms Nissan as a global sponsor of cricket’s worldwide tournaments, including the ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and ICC World Twenty20, as well as Under 19 and Women’s Cricket and qualifying events.

The eight-team tournament would now be played as a round-robin format with the top four sides progressing to the semi-finals, followed by the final. The format will give everyone the chance to play more cricket, with every team guaranteed a minimum of seven matches, which will ensure a bigger and better showcase of global women’s cricket than ever before.

“There has been so many positive developments in global women’s cricket in recent years, but I believe the introduction of the ICC Women’s Championship has been one of best”, explained Edwards.

Under the terms of the deal, Japan’s second-largest auto maker gets broadcast and digital rights and the brand will be visible in cricket venues.

The press release has gone on to dismiss the speculations of a possible shift in the location of the ICC U19 World Cup, following Cricket Australia’s decision to postpone its tour of Bangladesh. The Board once again reiterated its support in dealing with the issue of bowlers with suspected illegal bowling actions and, acknowledged the work done to date.