Five of Australia’s all-conquering team set for a showdown against hosts India in the women’s cricket World Cup semi-final on Thursday have surged through the threshold of $1m annual earnings, as the growing financial opportunities in the global game approach and even exceed the value of Cricket Australia contracts.
That group might soon expand too, given an Indian Women’s Premier League “mega auction” is scheduled for November. The Australians – who have won three of the past four world T20 titles and are defending 50-over champions – are set to attract significant interest from the five franchises, each of which have approximately $2.6m to spend for the month-long tournament.
