The Rise of Women's Cricket: From Margin to Mainstream
How women's cricket grew from a largely invisible sport to a global entertainment product with ICC funding, franchise leagues, and unprecedented broadcast audiences.
Early History
Women's cricket predates many assumptions about its modernity: the first recorded women's match was in Surrey, England, in 1745 — seven years before the first recorded men's county match. England's women's team toured Australia as early as 1934-35. But professional cricket for women did not exist until the 21st century in any meaningful form: players were amateurs throughout the 20th century, received no match fees, and often funded their own travel to internationals. The structural inequality between men's and women's cricket was not architectural; it was financial and cultural.
ICC Funding and the 2017 Moment
The 2017 ICC Women's World Cup in England was the watershed moment for the modern era of women's cricket. England vs India at Lord's on 23 July 2017 drew a full house (26,500), the largest crowd for a women's cricket match in history at that point, and was broadcast live to millions. India's run to the final — and their near-victory, losing to England in the last over — captured imaginations across the world. ICC invested heavily in women's cricket following that tournament: bilateral series payment structures improved, development funds increased, and broadcast deals for women's cricket were negotiated separately from men's.
T20 World Cup 2020: Melbourne
The 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup final between Australia and India at the MCG attracted 86,174 spectators — the largest crowd ever for a women's cricket match and one of the largest for any women's sporting event in history. It was the combination of ICC marketing investment, Ellyse Perry's injury creating a storyline, India's huge diaspora in Melbourne, and the Australian sporting culture's embrace of women's sport. The match confirmed that women's cricket could produce sell-out stadium events, which changed broadcast and commercial valuations fundamentally.
WBBL and the Franchise Model
The Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) in Australia, launched in 2015, provided the first long-form domestic T20 competition for women's cricketers. It created playing opportunities, media coverage, and commercial partners in a standalone format. Women's IPL (WPL) launched in India in 2023, with franchise fees totalling $572 million — comparable to a mid-tier men's IPL season. The Women's Premier League transformed women's cricket compensation in India and created a talent pipeline with serious financial incentives. Other leagues — The Hundred's women's competition, PSL women's — have followed.
Current State and Future
Women's cricket in 2026 has 20 full ICC member nations with women's programs, dual Test and T20 World Cups, and growing bilateral series. The pay gap between men's and women's cricketers, while still significant, has narrowed substantially in India, England, and Australia. Players like Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Nat Sciver-Brunt, and Sophie Ecclestone are known globally rather than only within cricket circles. The structural investment now flowing into women's cricket — academies, coaching infrastructure, youth pathways — means the talent development pipeline will sustain growth for decades.