The ICC Women’s World Cup is just a stone’s throw away with the mega event starting from March 4 in New Zealand. Eight teams will be participating in the tournament to fight for the coveted championship. New Zealand is hosting the World Cup after 22 long years, having last hosted the event way back in the year 2000.
While there has been a lot of discussion around the yawning pay gap between international men and women cricketers, in an attempt to bridge this gap, the ICC have doubled the prize money for the team winning the 2022 World Cup from that offered in the 2017 World Cup.
The champions of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 will take home prize money of $1.32 million, which is a whopping 75 percent increase from the previous edition.
The runner-up team will be entitled to receive $600,000, which is an increase of $270,000 from the earnings of the runner-up in the last edition of the World Cup in England. The two losing semi-finalists will receive $300,000 each while the four teams who exit at the group stage will get $70,000, compared to $30,000 awarded in the last edition of the World Cup. The eight participating teams, namely, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and the West Indies will also earn $25,000 for every win in the group stage. The total prize money pot will be worth $3.5 million, which is $1.5 million more than the previous World Cup.
GREAT NEWS 😃
The winners of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 will take home $1.32 million in prize money, double the amount awarded to the 2017 victors.#CWC22
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 15, 2022
This is a landmark announcement in the world of women’s cricket. Prior to this, between 2013 and 2017, there was a ten-fold increase in the prize money for the women’s tournament, from $200,000 to $2 million.
What was the Prize Money for the Winners in 2017 Women’s World Cup?
The defending champions England, who were also the hosts, were awarded prize money of $660,000 after they beat India in the nail-biting final by nine runs, to clinch their fourth title.
The ICC has indeed taken a step forward in bridging the yawning gap between the income earned by international men and women cricketers. This is a big boost for women’s cricket and will certainly give an impetus to all the teams to fight fiercely in the upcoming ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.