The Hundred Women: ECB mulling on increasing the salary of players

The inaugural edition of the Hundred got over on August 21 with Oval Invincibles women clinching the title and Men’s team Southern Brave clinching the other one to cap off a memorable one month of cricketing action in England. The tournament got off to a mixed start but slowly got the viewers hooked on it.

Sanjay Patel the managing director of the Hundred has said that a staggering 16.1 million people watched the action unfold live on TV. Patel also said that these incredible numbers even surpassed the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup held in 2019 in England. The tournament managed to grab eyeballs as soon as it announced that equal prize money will be offered to men’s and women’s teams.

But far from the truth, the highest-paid women cricketer got 24000 pounds, only one thousand more than what the lowest-paid male cricketer was getting. Patel however, has said the England Cricket Board (ECB) is hoping to narrow the gap and provide a surplus of 10m pounds in coming months or by next year.

“There’s going to be some good news for women’s salaries,” Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, said to ESPN Cricinfo. “You can expect that.”

The reports published in ECB also claim that 55% of new buyers purchased the tickets for the competition, which previously not purchased tickets from England or Wales. Also, it has been claimed that an incredible 57% of viewers were new and did not watch any cricket on Sky or BCC in 2021. Young children amounted to 19% of ticket sales and, Harrison feels the Hundred managed to bring in a new audience by delivering an exciting brand of cricket.

“We’ve seen in year one how it’s already delivering,” Harrison said. “It’s provided outstanding entertainment for new and existing fans alike, unearthed new cricketing heroes, and it’s been fantastic to see so many children and families enjoying the action. It’s also changed the game for women’s cricket, smashing record after record and creating role models for girls and boys to be inspired by.”

Sanjay Patel promises that double-headers to continue next year

Patel concluded by saying that initially double-headers were not part of the original Hundred plan but, due to COVID-19 it was forced to alter it.

“The double-header model wasn’t the original proposition,” Harrison said. “We were forced to do that through Covid. But actually, it’s turned out to be one of the best things that’s happened. It was an enforced change which has turned into a huge benefit.”