Women's cricket will see huge growth in the upcoming days as the International Cricket Council (ICC) has increased the prize money for the T20 World Cup 2024, starting October, 2024. The winning team will get a whopping amount of $2.34 million which is almost around 134% higher than the amount Australia got in ODI World Cup 2023. A year ago, the prize money was around $1 million.
"The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 will be the first ICC event where women will receive the same prize money as their male counterparts, marking a significant milestone in the sport's history. The decision was taken at the ICC Annual Conference in July 2023, when the ICC Board took the step of reaching its prize money equity target seven years ahead of its schedule of 2030," said the ICC.
This decision has made cricket the only major team sport to have equal prize money for its men's and women's World Cup events, which is a huge improvement. The ICC has set some high standards for other sports to follow in the upcoming years.
The topic is quite debatable and many people will raise questions on this small step taken by the Board who will benefit the players in the upcoming days, giving them the motivation to perform well for the nation. Women's cricket didn't have much viewers in the past but now the scenarios are changing slowly and ICC's support will bring in some good days for the sport in general.
Moreover, the two losing semi-finalists will get around $ 675,000 which was $ 210,000 in 2023. This amount is included with the overall prize pot totalling $ 7,958,080 which is again a massive increase of 225% from last year’s total amount of $ 2.45 million.
Women's T20 World Cup 2024 to start in October
After a lot of discussion on the upcoming women's T20 World Cup 2024's venue, ICC have finally shifted it to the UAE after having a conversation with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). Due to the political unrest in Bangladesh, ICC decided to shift the World Cup keeping the players' safety in mind.
The tournament will kick start on October 3 with 10 teams taking part in it. The first game will be between Scotland and Bangladesh in the UAE. Moreover, the last game will be conducted in October 20.