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"Advantage for Australian Women's team" - Fans react as equal prize money announced at ICC events like World Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday, July 13, announced equal prize money for men’s and women’s teams at ICC events. Teams will now receive equal prize money for finishing in similar positions in the points tables, semi-finalists, winners and runners-up.

The decision was taken by the administrators at the governing body's Annual Conference in Durban, South Africa. ICC had previously announced their commitment to achieving prize money parity by 2030.

In a statement, ICC Chair Greg Barclay said:

"This is a significant moment in the history of our sport and I am delighted that men’s and women’s cricketers competing at ICC global events will now be rewarded equally."

Barclay continued:

“Since 2017 we have increased prize money at women’s events every year with a clear focus on reaching equal prize money and from here on in, winning the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup will carry the same prize money as winning the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the same for T20 World Cups and U19s too.”

The Australian Women’s team received 1 million USD (Rs 8.27 crore) for winning the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup, while South Africa Women’s team, the losing finalists, got 500,000 USD (roughly Rs 4.14 crore).

In the 2022 T20 World Cup, England Men's team received 1.6 million USD (Rs 12.8 crore), while runners-up Pakistan got 800,000 USD (Rs 6.4 crore).

Fans on Twitter welcomed the decision. One user tweeted:

"Advantage for Australian Women's team. Can't see anyone beating them ever in the ICC finals."
@JayShah @ICC Advantage for Australian Women’s team. Can’t see anyone beating them ever in the ICC finals 😅

Here are some of the other Twitter reactions:

@ICC Fantastic! Taking the tennis route 👏
@ICC This is huge ! Great job ICC 👏
@ICC Love to see it!!!
@ICC That's Very Good Announcement 💥🎉
@ICC Fair enough 👏🏽
@ICC https://t.co/r7ypJ9djAh
@JayShah @BCCI @ICC Much needed step for gender equality ❤️
@JayShah @ICC What an amazing decision 👍


ICC announce changes to over-rate sanctions

The International Cricket Council also announced changes to over-rate sanctions. Under the revised regulations in the new WTC championship cycle (2023-25), players will be fined five percent of their match fee for every over that falls short. The maximum penalty will be 50 percent.

Sourav Ganguly, ICC Men’s Cricket Committee Chair, said:

“The ICC WTC has injected renewed energy into Test cricket giving it compelling context.”

Ganguly added:

"The Men’s Cricket Committee felt strongly that over-rate penalties in the form of WTC points deductions should remain but recommended that players should not have 100% of their match fee at risk."

The amendment comes after Rohit Sharma-led India and champions Australia players were charged 100 and 80 percent of their match fees for slow-over rates in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, respectively.

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