It was only a few days ago that members of the Australian women’s cricket team were contemplating how best to navigate the impending “distraction” of the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction, scheduled during the first week of the T20 World Cup. “It’s a little bit awkward,” captain Meg Lanning said in South Africa last week. “But it’s just trying to embrace that and understanding it’s actually a really exciting time and you actually don’t have a lot of control over most of it, so you’ve just got to wait and see.”
What a pleasant distraction it turned out to be. Lanning herself will be $192,000 richer for three weeks’ work with the Delhi Capitals. Her teammate, Ash Gardner, will earn three times that playing for the Gujarat Giants. The allrounder’s figure of $558,000 is more than Sam Kerr pockets in a season with Chelsea and more than the WNBA’s top earner, Jackie Young.
