Women's ICL not endorsed

The two biggest governing bodies in women’s cricket, Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board, have both insisted they have not endorsed a female cricket equivalent of the IPL run by an Australian businessman.

Shaun Martyn is proposing to launch a Women's International Cricket League (WICL), with the aim of attracting the world's best players just as the lucrative Twenty20 Indian Premier League does for leading cricketers in the men's game.

The proposed tournament, which sees Martyn in partnership with former Australia World Cup-winner Lisa Sthalekar, could see players earn AUD$42,800 in 12 days - small change by IPL standards but a huge amount of money in terms of women's cricket.

But England, who this year put their women's team on a full-time professional footing, remain wary of Martyn's plan which has yet to be endorsed by a major national governing body or the International Cricket Council.

Instead the ECB has put is faith in the new ICC International Women's Championship, a one-day tournament which will lead to qualification for the 2017 World Cup.

"There has been a lot of misleading and as yet unsubstantiated information around how far advanced the proposed WICL is," said Clare Connor, the ECB's head of women's cricket, in a board statement issued on Wednesday.

Connor, a former England captain who is also chair of the ICC women's committee, added: "I stress that from an ECB perspective this competition is not on our agenda."

The ECB comments are in line with Cricket Australia’s position on the proposed tournament.

“We are working hard to professionalise the women’s game,” said Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager of Team Performance Pat Howard.

“Last year’s restructuring of the contracting system for female international and state cricketers has seen our elite players become some of the best paid female athletes in the country.

“We are continuing to provide our elite players with further opportunities. This includes developing a model for a women’s T20 Big Bash League, which is seen as an important step in further professionalising women’s cricket.

“As a result of these efforts, female cricket participation at the grassroots level is at an all-time high, with a 18% increase from 2012-13 taking us to 180,000 female participants.

“In relation to comments by the Women’s ICL, CA has not endorsed the competition in any way.

“The proposed Women’s International Cricket League has also recently been discussed by the International Cricket Council and its Members, and was not supported.

“However, we are highly committed to developing female cricket at all levels of the game as we work to make it Australia’s favourite sport for women and girls.”