The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced a £3.5m increase in funding for the women’s regional game to run until the end of 2024.
The uplift in funding will increase the number of professional women’s players, grow the salary pot and grow the average salary.
From 1 November 2022, the number of professional players funded by ECB will go up to seven players per region, rising again to 10 professional players per region by 1 February 2023.
In 2023 there will be 80 ECB-funded professional women’s domestic cricketers, double the 40 initially contracted in 2020, in addition to the England Women’s Centrally Contracted players.
The salary pot per team from 1 February will rise to £250,000, meaning the average salary for a women’s regional cricketer will be £25,000.
There has also been an increase in staffing salaries and capacity, with a focus on the science and medicine provision at each region.
| Year | Number of ECB-funded professional contracts | Number of regionally-funded professional contracts |
| 2020 | 40 | 1 |
| 2021 | 48 | 3 |
| 1 November 2022 | 56 | 10 |
| 1 February 2023 | 80 | TBC |
ECB Interim Chief Executive Officer Clare Connor said: “Everyone within cricket should be immensely proud of the game-changing progress of professional women’s domestic cricket since the implementation of the Transform Women’s and Girls’ Cricket Action Plan began in 2020.
“The significant increase in funding we are announcing today will not only continue to drive the performance standards of our domestic players across England and Wales, giving the women’s game more strength in depth, but critically we are creating a more equitable future for women and girls in our sport. Young girls have a clearer pathway in cricket than ever before, and the belief that they too can aspire to be professional cricketers.
“As of February, there will be nearly 100 professional female cricketers in England and Wales. There were fewer than 20 before we launched the new regional structure in 2020.
“We’re indebted to the hard work of everyone: players, support staff and the administrators who have backed the vision and driven this change – and to the PCA, for the important role they’ve played in supporting this progression with their continued collaboration.
“Combined with the dramatic impact of The Hundred, we are seeing the benefits of professionalisation and collaborative ways of working and cricket is thriving as a result.”