Women to receive equal prize money at ICC events

The International Cricket Council has announced its men's and women's competitions will have equal prize money from now on.

Teams will get the same amount of money when they finish in the equivalent position at comparable events.

They will also earn the same amount for winning a match at those events.

The ICC had previously committed to equal prize money before 2030, and said it has reached equality in the area "well ahead of schedule".

"This is a significant moment in the history of our sport," added ICC chair Greg Barclay.

"Since 2017 we have increased prize money at women's events every year with a clear focus on reaching equal prize money.

"From here on in, winning the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup will carry the same prize money as winning the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, and the same for T20 World Cups and U19s too.

"Cricket is genuinely a sport for all and this decision from the ICC board reinforces that and enables us to celebrate and value every single player's contribution to the game equally."

The next ICC tournament is the men's 50-over World Cup, which starts in October, while there are both men's and women's T20 World Cups in 2024.

The ICC and chief executives' committee also approved changes to over-rate sanctions in Test cricket.

The changes have been retrospectively applied to the start of the World Test Championship cycle, which began with the Ashes on 16 June.

Every England and Australia player was fined 40 percent of their match fee - about £6000 for an England player - after the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, with both sides also losing two World Test Championship points.

There had also been reports that Australia were going to be docked 13 points - and therefore lose all 12 they gained for winning - for their over-rate in the second Test at Lord's.

The ICC says the changes "balance the need for over-rates to be maintained and ensure players are appropriately remunerated".

Players will now be fined 5 percent of their match fee for each over they are short, up to a maximum of 50 percent. This is down from 20 percent an over, with no maximum.

However, if a team is bowled out before 80 overs, no penalty is applied. This is an increase from 60 overs.

ICC men's cricket committee chair Sourav Ganguly said: "The ICC World Test Championship has injected renewed energy into Test cricket, giving it compelling context.

"In the last edition we only had 12 draws in 69 matches, and we want to ensure that trend continues while we're giving fans the best value for money and keeping over-rates up.

"The men's cricket committee felt strongly that over-rate penalties in the form of WTC points deductions should remain but recommended that players should not have 100 percent of their match fee at risk.

"We believe this provides a balance between maintaining over-rates and ensuring we are not deterring players from playing Test cricket."

The ICC also confirmed their largest ever investment after the distribution model for the next four years was agreed.

Every ICC member will receive "significantly enhanced funding" and there will be a strategic investment fund ring-fenced designed to "drive global growth initiatives".

"The success of our media rights and commercial programme for our next four-year cycle means we are able to invest more money than ever before into our sport," Barclay said.

"All members will receive a base distribution and then additional revenue will be in relation to contribution to the global game both on and off the field.

"This is by far the largest level of investment ever to go into cricket and it's a once in a generation opportunity for our members to accelerate growth and engage more players and fans and drive competitiveness."

- This story was first published by BBC.