FILE PHOTO: Cricket - Women's One Day International Series - England v Australia - County Ground, Taunton, Britain - July 18, 2023 Australia's Annabel Sutherland celebrates with teammates after taking a catch to dismiss England's Alice Capsey off the bowling of Australia's Jess Jonassen Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Cricket Australia (CA) are targeting a five-fold increase in average attendances at women's matches and quadrupling participation rates among young girls as part of a 10-year plan for the women's game.
The governing body will also launch a new domestic T20 competition while reducing the existing Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) to a 40-game season, which will bring it in line with the men's BBL.
Australia has invested heavily in women's cricket over the past decade, with the fruits seen in the nation's dominance of global events.
However, women's cricket generates just 5% of the sport's total revenue in the country amid rising competition for global talent in T20 franchise leagues overseas.
CA's "Women and Girls Action Plan" launched on Tuesday will seek to address those issues by boosting annual revenues to A$121 million ($79.39 million) by 2034, an increase of A$100 million on current levels.
CA are also seeking to boost annual average attendance for women's cricket to 600,000 by 2034, up from about 120,000 last season.
The 10-year plan also calls for boosting participation among girls aged five to 12 to 100,000 from 25,000, investing A$500 million in infrastructure and achieving a target of 40% female representation in key positions in administration.
"There is so much more opportunity and work to be done to ensure big crowds in big stadiums more often, that our incredible role models are given the profile they deserve ... and ultimately that more women and girls are inspired to love and play cricket," CA boss Nick Hockley said in a news release.
CA said it would launch a new state-based T20 competition to complement the WBBL without providing dates or details.
This will lift the average women's domestic player salary to A$163,322 for 2024-25, up 8% on the previous season, the board said.
The WBBL, meanwhile, will be reduced in a bid to appeal to overseas players whose opportunities to play franchise T20 cricket have grown rapidly in recent years.
($1 = 1.5242 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
