‘Start of a New Dawn‘: Jay Shah Thanks Fellow Board Members as ICC Makes Landmark Announcement

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced equal prize money for men’s and women’s teams at ICC events. Going forward, there will be prize money equity at all ICC events. At the ICC Annual Conference in Durban, the all-powerful Finance and Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee, headed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah, took the decision and got backing from other members of the board.

“ Start of a New Dawn. An era of equality & empowerment. I am thrilled to announce that a major step towards gender parity & inclusivity has been undertaken. The prize money at all ICC events will be same for men & women. Together we grow. I thank the fellow Board members for their support in helping achieve this important endeavour. Let’s work towards a future where cricket continues to thrive across the globe,” Jay Shah tweeted.

Ever since taking over as the BCCI secretary, Shah has led from the front in improving the state of women’s cricket in the country. From playing the Pink-ball Test to the Women’s Premier League (WPL) to the pay parity policy, many important decisions and initiatives have been taken on women’s cricket in India. The landmark ICC decision is just an extension of the work already underway at the BCCI, under Jay Shah.

At the recent CNBC TV18’s India Business Leader Awards (IBLA), Shah, who received the ‘Game Changer of the Year’ award on behalf of the BCCI, spoke about the pay parity decision and how it was always on top of his agenda when he took over at the BCCI.

“When I took over the BCCI, I decided we couldn’t allow discrimination in match fees and decided on pay parity. There was unanimous agreement over ensuring pay parity for women cricketers in India,” Shah had said.

Arun Singh Dhumal, India’s representative in the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee, appreciated the decision made by the global cricketing body.

“The BCCI has in recent years bolstered its global standing as a visionary board under the astute leadership of Mr Jay Shah in the pantheon of cricket, wherein the BCCI has lead by example be it the WPL, pay parity for women or the proliferation of the sport globally with the IPL. It was thus, just a matter of time before its contributions to the game of cricket were recognised by the ICC the apex governing body for cricket globally.

“The BCCI would like to express its gratitude and appreciation to the ICC for approving the revamped revenue-distribution model during the ICC’s AGM in Durban. I am certain under Secretary Jay Shah, Indian cricket will continue to fulfil its role of leading by example with pathbreaking initiatives and going from strength to strength, both on and off the field,” said Dhumal.

‘Significant moment’

Commenting on the equal pay, ICC chair Greg Barclay said, “This is a significant moment in the history of our sport, and I am delighted that men’s and women’s cricketers competing at ICC global events will now be rewarded equally”.

The ICC chief further added that the global cricketing body was increasing prize money at women’s events every year since 2017 with the goal of equal prize money in their minds. He added, “Winning the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup will carry the same prize money as winning the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the same for T20 World Cups and U19s too.”

Other decisions

In some other major decisions taken at the ICC meet, the revenue distribution model for the next four years was approved. As News18 CricketNext had reported, India will get a major chunk of the pie. An important decision on T20 leagues was also taken where it was decided that only four overseas players will be allowed in the Playing XI.

Changes were also made to the over-rate sanctions in Test cricket and it got the nod of the Chief Executives’ Committee.

“As such players will be fined 5% of their match fee for each over short up to a maximum of 50%. If a team is bowled out before the new ball is due at 80 overs, there will be no over-rate penalty applied even if there is a slow over rate. This replaces the current 60 over threshold,” read an ICC statement.

Commenting on the changes in over-rate sanctions, ICC Men’s Cricket Committee Chair Sourav Ganguly said: “The ICC World Test Championship has injected renewed energy into Test cricket giving it compelling context. In the last edition, we only had 12 draws in 69 matches, and we want to ensure that trend continues whilst we’re giving fans the best value for money and keeping over-rates up.

“The Men’s Cricket Committee felt strongly that over-rate penalties in the form of WTC points deductions should remain but recommended that players should not have 100% of their match fee at risk. We believe this provides a balance between maintaining over-rates and ensuring we are not deterring players from playing Test cricket.”