'Appetite for women's cricket' indisputable as Australian champion Ellyse Perry eyes the future
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Cricket Australia is projecting a massive uptick in revenue streams and participation over the next decade due to the burgeoning interest in the sport driven by the nation's champion women's team. A new domestic women's T20 competition, to run in addition to the current WBBL season, will be announced today at the MCG as part of CA's new Women and Girls Action Plan. The action plan, which outlines the national bodies aspirations for women's cricket through to 2034, has at its core a determination to fill stadiums and grow viewership for matches. Watch every match of the 2024 IPL Season LIVE on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today > The average salary for domestic players next season will grow to $163,222, an increase of eight percent on last year, in part due to the introduction of an additional competition. Details surrounding the new competition are expected to be confirmed as part of the announcement of the action plan. The 10th season of the WBBL will feature a 40-game regular season, which is in-line with the men's T20 competition, and aims to enhance the star factor through improved scheduling. It will be broadcast in its entirety by Fox Cricket. CA wants to draw an additional $100 million in revenue from women's cricket over the next decade, with aspirations to lift attendances at matches over the same period by 600,000. A special day-night Ashes Test at the MCG next January between Australia and England will feature as one of the prominent matches with hopes the four day outing will draw a big attendance. Ellyse Perry creates WPL history! | 01:24 Champion cricket Ellyse Perry, who recently returned from Australia's dominant tour of Bangladesh and was involved in helping devise the new action plan, believes it will lead to an increase in women and girls across all aspects of the sport. "Australian cricket has been at the forefront of the growth in women's sport, providing some of the best opportunities for players with resourcing and remuneration," she said. "It's reassuring to know this commitment will not only be sustained, but greatly enhanced over the next ten years. "With viewing audiences increasing, the public appetite for women's sport is now indisputable and we would love to see major stadiums filled with fans for our international and WBBL games and more girls inspired to play cricket. "It is also extremely important that the increased interest in women's sport is reflected in sponsorship and broadcast deals, and I hope this plan will continue to drive this growth, so that women's cricket continues to thrive." The CA action plan will champion the promotion of women across all roles in the sport, with the goal of ensuring at least 40 percent of all key positions in cricket are held by females. The ruling body will also invest $500 million in infrastructure for women's cricket over the next decade and hopes to raise the number of primary school-aged girls playing from 25,000 to 100,000 over the same period. CA chief executive Nick Hockley said the success of the Australian women's team over the past decade, and more broadly the growth of interest in the sport, was a feature of the last decade. He believes the new action plan will "provide the focus and energy to ensure we accelerate cricket's leadership position". "We've seen what is possible with transformative moments such as 86,174 fans packing the MCG for the T20 World Cup final, which remains the highest attendance for a female sporting event in Australia," Hockley said. "There is so much more opportunity and work to be done to ensure big crowds in big stadiums more often, that our incredible role models are given the profile they deserve, that all facets of the game are gender balanced, that through imaginative partnerships we drive commercial growth, sustainable investment and, ultimately, that more women and girls are inspired to love and play cricket."