The NSW Breakers are about to become the first fully professional female team in Australian domestic sport.
In a major decision for the future of women's sport in this country, all Breakers squad members will be on full-time contracts, with international players potentially having contracts worth more than $100,000 a year.
The minimum wage will be $35,000 a year which puts them above Netball Australia's new league, and a whopping seven times better than the measly $5,000 minimum players in the new AFL Women's league will earn.
NSW cricket chief executive Andrew Jones has described the deal as a massive moment for gender equality in Australia, and is confident this is just the beginning.
“I am confident that every state in Australia will now follow the lead of Cricket NSW by giving their female cricketers the opportunity to earn a living wage,” Jones said.
The deal is a flow on from Cricket Australia's payment increase in April 2016, when total earnings for domestic and international players went from $2.36m to $4.23m.
Batter Ashleigh Gardner has described the announcement as one that has changed her life.
“Cricket has always been my passion, however I never really thought that I would be able to play professionally,” Gardner said.
“In the back of my mind I was always having to consider how I needed to juggle school work, studies, one day having a job and a family, with my training and matches.”
