The ECB recently announced a 60% raise in the top players’ salaries in The Hundred with the hope of luring the best talent from around the world for its transitional 2025 season. Women’s salaries too have risen, though at a modest 30% increase, as the game continues to discuss pay equity.
The highest men’s salary is now £200,000, which is at par with the Big Bash League in Australia, where the platinum picks earn between A$360,000 and A$420,000. The highest women’s salary in The Hundred has been increased to £65,000, which is slightly higher than the A$110,000 offered in the Women’s BBL.
Where these changes show improvement, a gulf remains regarding pay differentials between males and females. In the years ago, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket suggested an equality pay by 2025 in The Hundred; and this was challenged by the ECB not being bound to an agreement date.
ECB raises top players’ salaries in The Hundred to retain them
Rob Hillman, the ECB’s director of major events, stressed the importance of these changes, describing the salary boosts as “imperative in the current global cricket landscape.” He said, “We want the best players participating in The Hundred, keeping millions of fans entertained, particularly families and young people. Raising salaries is a crucial step toward maintaining the competition’s appeal.”
This means that as Hillman states, there has also been progress recorded in women’s cricket whose top earners get a fourfold salary than their introductory season while competing. This, according to him, marks encouraging progress but is not the last.
For 2025, each side will be allowed one direct overseas signing from their 10 retention spots, bypassing the draft system for those players. Squads can now include four overseas players, though only three can feature in the playing XI.
The Hundred, which attracted stars such as Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry in the last edition, couldn’t attract many top men’s players, some of whom have been heading to leagues like Major League Cricket or Global T20 Canada lately. The ECB would hope these pay rises turn the tables for them.
The 2025 edition of the tournament will take place from 5 August to 31 August with the release of the schedule well before next year.
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