Sunday Star-Times

CA’s promise of pay parity strikes chord KIWI UMPIRE

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Cricket Australia’s promise to provide prize parity for their women after tonight’s Twenty20 World Cup final could prove a catalyst for other sports.

Australia’s women will pocket A$1.51 million from the ICC if they win the decider against India, A$900,000 short of the men’s prizemoney.

However CA promised last year to pay that gap regardless of Australia’s result in the tournament.

Generally speaking, prize money parity is more common in individual sports, with tennis one such example. However team sports have often lagged behind.

Women’s Sports Australia deputy chair Gen Simmons believed CA’s promise had sparked conversati­ons in other sports towards the same movement.

‘‘It’s quite a bold thing to do,

New Zealand’s Kim Cotton is set to become the first woman to umpire a major World Cup final after being appointed to the Twenty20 showpiece in Melbourne tonight.

Cotton will officiate alongside Pakistan’s Ahsan Raza. Cotton began umpiring men’s senior cricket in Timaru a decade ago and was included in NZC’s reserve panel in 2016-17. She stood in the previous women’s T20 World Cup in 2018.

and it’s definitely caused a bit of a current through the sports network [by] just showing how committed Cricket Australia are to having gender equality,’’ Simmons said. ‘‘. . . we hope this can become a landmark what Cricket Australia have done and that other sports can follow.’’

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