Cricket West Indies and the West Indies Players’ Association have signed a new agreement committed to bringing men’s and women’s pay on equal footing by October 2027.

The memorandum of understanding outlines plans to achieve parity in international and regional match fees, international captains’ allowances, international team prize money and regional individual prize money for all West Indies cricketers.

“This strategic initiative is a testament to CWI’s dedication to creating a more equitable playing field and fostering an environment where talent is valued irrespective of gender,” Cricket West Indies said in a statement.

“The MOU also aligns the performance grading criteria for international women’s and regional men’s contracts with the established standards for international men, ensuring a uniform evaluation process across domestic and international cricket from October 1 this year.”

Kishore Shallow, the president of Cricket West Indies, was overjoyed about developments.

“This is an historic day for West Indies cricket,” he said. “As we overhaul the compensation structures and align performance grading, we are taking a significant step towards creating a more inclusive and progressive cricket framework. This step reflects our unwavering commitment to gender equality and acknowledges the immense contributions of female players to West Indies cricket.”

Shallow added: “In the preceding year, we undertook substantial enhancements to our travel policy, mandating that the West Indies senior women’s team travel business-class on all extended international flights and are accommodated in single rooms during international assignments. This aligns seamlessly with the established policy for West Indies senior men’s tours. With the signing of this MOU, we take another significant stride in narrowing the gender gap within our cricketing community.”

In addition to unprecedented levels of prize money on offer for regional tournaments, there are new team and individual incentive bonuses available for the top performers in the system. The top contract-band values for men at international and regional level have also been increased, underscoring the commitment to fostering a culture of player growth, improvement and high performance.

Johnny Grave, the CWI chief executive, said: “We are proud to embark on this journey towards gender pay equity. The significant increases for our female players demonstrate our dedication to rewarding excellence and promoting fairness in our cricketing community. ​ The increases in prize money, greater rewards for our best-performing players and higher match fees for players in the starting XIs, are all strategic moves to place a greater emphasis on winning.”

For Wavell Hinds, president of the players union, the move represents an exciting period — in particular for women cricketers.

“Achieving gender parity and equity has always been a strategic objective of our players' union, and we’ve certainly done so with our female members,” the former West Indies Test batter said.

“Without a doubt, this is a truly historic and exciting time for our membership as the MOU addresses most levels of our pay scale. As we operate within a very fluid cricketing landscape, we are duty-bound to conscientiously reward our regional and international players within the constraints of CWI’s budget and agree on policies that will produce and promote world-class performances.”

Included in the MOU are:

• Significantly increased team prize money throughout the system and new individual player rewards

• Full match fees for players in the starting XI and 80 per cent for reserves (effective October 1, 2024

• All retainers on hold once a No Objection Certificate is issued for an overseas domestic franchise tournament (effective October 1, 2024)

• The potential for CWI and franchises to award multiyear retainer contracts (up to three years)

• Provision of a hospitality box and ground transportation for players’ families at all international home series matches