London, Sep 25 : England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced that minimum starting salaries will be equalised across men's and women's professional domestic cricket from 2025.

The starting salaries and salary budget details have been approved by the ECB's Professional Game Committee (PGC), which features representatives from FCCs, the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) and the ECB, it said.

The move will apply both at 'Rookie' level, which is being introduced into the women's game for the first time and which will typically be a player's first professional contract, and at 'Senior Pro' level for players who have established themselves in first teams.

This decision comes in the wake of the 2023 Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report, which called for a comprehensive overhaul of pay structures within women's cricket.

Besides the salary changes, the ECB has confirmed that from 2025, the eight Tier 1 counties in the new women's competition will have minimum squad sizes of 15 contracted players. These counties will be required to invest at least 500,000 pounds in player salary costs. In addition, a salary cap of 800,000 per year has been agreed for FCCs with Tier 1 status.

The move to equalise starting salaries for male and female players represents the latest action taken as part of the restructuring of the women's professional game. It follows the announcement earlier this month that the women's and men's professional white ball competitions will align from next season under the Vitality Blast and Metro Bank One Day Cup banners.

Beth Barrett-Wild, Director of Women's Professional Game at the ECB, in a statement released by ECB said, "Equalising starting salaries across our men's and women's professional domestic game is another positive step forward for women's cricket in England and Wales."

Emma Reid, PCA Director of Player Rights and Women's Cricket, praised the progress but acknowledged that the journey towards full parity still has more ground to cover. This is a big step towards reaching parity and a journey that the PCA is fully committed to achieving. There is still further work to do, but this decision is a crucial step in the right direction."

/IANS