The English Cricket Board has announced that the new The Hundred competition will pay the men’s and women’s teams equally.

This comes after big steps were taken by Cricket Australia a few years ago to implement equal payouts in the men’s and women’s Big Bash Leagues.

CA also vowed to pay its national women’s team more for their efforts in the current ICC T20 World Cup, which is staged in Australia.

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The total prize amount of £600,000 (R11,833,322.05) for The Hundred will be equally split between the men’s and women’s competitions, which gets under way in July in England.

Although the normal salaries between the two genders still remain vastly significant, Beth Barrett-Wild, the head of The Hundred women’s competition, is impressed with the ECB’s efforts to to close the gap and make cricket more gender-balanced.

‘The ECB is committed to transforming women’s and girls’ cricket, from inspiring young girls to pick up a bat for the first time, through to establishing the women’s game as a professional career option. This announcement today represents one signal of intent towards that commitment.’