SLC to enhance fees of women cricketers
Sri Lanka women completed a successful tour to South Africa, winning the T20s 2-1 and levelling the ODIs 1-1
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will look at a significant increase in match and contract fees for women cricketers as an incentive to the players who have made great strides in recent years. Although these payments will not match what men’s cricketers are earning, the Board recognised that the players deserved a fair increase.
Led by Chamari Athapaththu, the team’s latest adventure was in South Africa, a country which, with its bouncier pitches, has been a tough place for all foreign teams. Following their historic first–winning a T20 series in South Africa against the hosts (2-1)–the women cricketers scaled down a record target of 302 to beat South Africa by six wickets to level the three-match ODI series on the back of a majestic unbeaten 195 from Athapaththu.
“We will give them a hike,”
said Ashley de Silva, CEO of
Sri Lanka Cricket. “We enhanced both contract and match fees last year and when their contracts come up for renewal next month, we will work on a new formula to compensate them for their performance”.
There exists a big pay gap between male and female cricketers in Sri Lanka and de Silva admitted it would be a long shot to expect complete closing of this gap right now. New Zealand, India and England are among those countries that do not discriminate between men and women cricketers in match fees.
Apart from their contract fees, which range from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 300,000 a month for the 25 contracted national cricketers, they are paid US$ 750 a match for T20Is or ODIs. SLC also hand out a bonus of US$ 250 for every win they notch up. SLC pay USD7500 per Test match, US$ 4000 per ODI and USD3000 per T20 for men’s cricketers.
During the last 12 months,
Sri Lankan women won the T20 series against Bangladesh, beat England in England and also reached the Asian Games final. In ODI cricket, they clinched a historic series win over New Zealand and beat Bangladesh, before their latest performances against South Africa.
De Silva said SLC had invested heavily on lifting the standard of women’s cricket over the last few years and are now reaping the rewards.
In addressing the issue of putting women’s cricket in the country on track, SLC has identified the grey areas. As a first step in that direction, a concentrated development drive to attract girls’ schools was launched in 2016. This initiative was aimed at decentralising women’s cricket. Since then, the country has seen an increase in participation with more and more schoolgirls throwing their hats into the ring.
The growing popularity of cricket among girls has given way to a cricket culture even among the poorest players in the country. The ‘Big Match’ concept, which is well-rooted among the boy’s schools, has been sowed among the girl’s schools.
“We have invested heavily on the women’s game. We have a club tournament with 16 teams and we started an elite provincial tournament with four teams. We are also spending heavily on promoting the game among schoolgirls and as a result, we have seen young cricketers coming through,” de Silva said
In addition to the nationally contracted players Sri Lanka have also contracted another 35 players, 20 as ‘A’ cricketers and 15 at the emerging level.
“As a leader, Chamari has led from the front and she was able to get the support of everyone in the team. Big credit to the support staff led by Rumesh Ratnayake for the tremendous work they have done behind the scene,” said de Silva.
Following her majestic performance, her ninth ODI century, Athapaththu heaped praised on SLC for supporting the women’s cricket and said that it has had a significant impact on the game.
“I’ve built a young team. I want to see these young girls in the World Cup one day. As a captain, I am really proud of my young girls and they are playing really good cricket. I sacrificed a lot of things for Sri Lankan cricket in the last 15 years. I am happy to lead this team. I am a really, really proud captain. I hope my girls play really good cricket in future as well. I hope my team can play their best cricket at the T20 World Cup,” she told reporters after the match, hinting of an imminent retirement, having served the team for 15 years.
Sri Lanka women are yet to qualify for either the T20 or ODI World Cup. They must do well against West Indies, who are languishing in ninth place on the 10-team Women’s Championship table, and Ireland, who are 10th. Sri Lanka are currently ranked eighth on the points table.