It will go down as a momentous date in the history of women’s cricket – Monday, 13 February 2023 was the day the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction sprinkled a fairy dust of riches on female cricketers, the like of which has never been seen before.
Three and a half hours before England took to the field against Ireland in their T20 Women’s World Cup head-to-head, eventually chasing down the target of 106 for their second win of the tournament, three of their players had been picked up in the opening round of the auction – Sophia Dunkley for £60,000 and Sophie Ecclestone for £180,000, while Nat Sciver-Brunt’s worth was finalised at a staggering £320,000 – the joint-highest (with Australia’s Ash Gardner) of any non-Indian player. In all, seven England players picked up deals with the five franchises.
