The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today (8th October) launched its action plan to transform women’s and girls’ cricket with the fundamental goal of making cricket a gender-balanced sport.

Transforming women’s and girls’ cricket is one of six priorities within ECB’s ‘Inspiring Generations’ strategy for 2020-2024. An unprecedented £20m of funding will be invested over the next two years, with an ambition of investing £50m over the five years, to enable organisations across the cricket network to recruit more dedicated resources, improve the player experience, and increase the opportunities to build careers in the sport.

Another ground-breaking commitment is the funding of 40 full-time professionals, domestic contracts. These contracts will be in addition to the existing England Women Centrally Contracted players.