BBL and women's cricketers big winners in pay deal

The big winners are female cricketers, whose pay will increase by almost 66 per cent across the board to a combined $133 million over the life of the agreement.

As revealed by AAP on Sunday, women domestic cricketers will benefit with an average pay packet of $151,000, with the majority to earn in excess of $100,000.

Players will need to hold both a state and WBBL contract to achieve that mark, with around 75 per cent of the cohort doing so.

The WBBL salary cap will increase to $732,000 per year in a bid to keep pace with the women's Hundred in England, India's WPL and other franchise leagues.

CA will increase the women's national contract list from 15 to 18, with a 25 per cent pay increase for those players and the highest earner expected to pocket around $800,000 across all contracts.

"Cricket now clearly offers the best earning opportunities of any team sport for elite female sportspeople," CA CEO Nick Hockley said.

"I am particularly pleased this MOU represents another major step forward in the rise of women's cricket with significant increases in remuneration for the inspirational role models of the world champion Australian women's team and the WBBL who are driving substantial growth in female participation."

Centrally-contracted Australian male players will have their pay increase by 7.5 per cent to an average of $951,000 before match payments, while the squad will increase to 24 players.

At a domestic men's level, more significant changes are coming.

The men's BBL salary cap will rise from $2 million to $3 million.

That will allow the league's top earners to be paid up to $420,000, with CA desperate to keep and attract new top-line talent.

It comes after officials made the competition a priority last season, and agreed to reduce the number of games from 14 for each team to 10 for 2024-25 at the latest.

"We have recognised the need to ensure that the BBL remains highly competitive in a changing global cricket landscape," Hockley said. 

"We're confident this agreement will help maintain its place at the heart of the Australian summer."

Overall, the changes represent a 26 per cent pay rise for players across the sport, with the deal the first done between Hockley and Australian Cricketers' Association counterpart Todd Greenberg.

"There is enormous capacity for growth right across the women's game, as well as the BBL, both of which we believe have enormous untapped potential," Greenberg said.

"Our men and women will benefit from significant investment into the BBL and WBBL, which will help ensure we have the best players playing."