Women’s cricket has expanded across audiences, participation pathways and professional structures. ICC global market research identified more than 1 billion cricket fans aged 16–69, while 68% said they were interested in women’s cricket. Recent tournament, England and South Africa figures show how that interest has translated into attendance, investment, teams and opportunities.
Contents
- Global audience and interest
- Women’s T20 World Cup reach
- Participation and community impact
- South Africa’s legacy indicators
- England’s teams and player pathways
- Attendance and professional investment
- Facilities, youth cricket and equality
Global audience and interest
The ICC global market research provides a broad picture of cricket’s potential audience. It identified more than 1 billion fans in the surveyed 16–69 age category. The average cricket fan was 34 years old. Men represented 61% of fans, while women and girls represented 39%.
The same research identified more than 300 million active participants over age 16 worldwide. Interest in the women’s game was substantial: 68% of cricket fans were interested in women’s cricket, and 65% were interested in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. A further 70% wanted more live coverage of women’s cricket.
| Audience measure | Reported figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Cricket fans aged 16–69 | More than 1 billion | ICC global market research |
| Average fan age | 34 | ICC global market research |
| Women and girls among fans | 39% | ICC global market research |
| Fans interested in women’s cricket | 68% | ICC global market research |
| Fans wanting more live women’s coverage | 70% | ICC global market research |
Interest was also high across formats. Global interest reached 92% for T20I cricket and 88% for ODI cricket. In England and Wales, 86% of fans showed interest in Test cricket. South Africa recorded 91% interest in ODI cricket, while Pakistan recorded 98% interest in T20I cricket. Overall, 95% of fans were interested or very interested in ICC global events, and 87% said they would like to see Twenty20 cricket in the Olympic Games.
Women’s T20 World Cup reach
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 produced a large set of audience and attendance measures. Across ICC digital channels, the tournament generated 1.1 billion video views. In India, it generated 5.4 billion viewing minutes across the tournament. The event recorded total attendance of 136,549, with 86,174 spectators at the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The final reached 1.2 million television viewers in Australia. In India alone, it produced 1.78 billion viewing minutes, a figure reported as 59 times higher than the 2018 final. The final represented 35% of overall tournament viewership in India, with an average Indian audience of 9.02 million. Streaming in India peaked at 3.1 million concurrent Hotstar users.
The tournament’s overall viewing minutes in India were 5.4 billion, while viewing minutes in Australia were up 378% compared with the 2018 tournament. ICC platforms recorded 81.5 million social media engagements.
Several individual match attendances show how the event performed across venues. The opening Australia–India match in Sydney drew 13,432 spectators. The semi-final double-header at the Sydney Cricket Ground drew 6,161, the WACA double-header drew 5,280, and Australia versus Bangladesh at Manuka Oval drew 5,614. The Junction Oval double-header drew 3,144 spectators.
Participation and community impact
The 2020 tournament included participation programs alongside elite competition. Cricket 4 Good ran 14 team coaching clinics across six host cities, involving more than 370 participants. Anthem Kids included 690 participants across 23 matches, and the Flag Bearers program included 460 participants.
The schools program registered more than 950 schools, while 103 schools participated in the schools ticketing program. The club fundraising program registered 135 clubs. The tournament was supported by 500 volunteers, and 190 net bowlers took part, including many emerging junior female cricketers.
These figures describe several different forms of engagement rather than one single participation total: school registration, ticketing, fundraising, volunteering, match-day roles, coaching and bowling opportunities were measured separately. That distinction matters when reading the tournament’s reach. A registered school, a volunteer and a coaching-clinic participant are not interchangeable units.
South Africa’s legacy indicators
The ICC women’s tournaments leave positive legacy in South Africa report recorded investment and survey measures after ICC events. South Africa invested R15 million over three years into women’s cricket through the events legacy work.
More than half of respondents noticed an increase in professional contracts for women. A total of 83% saw a surge in girls’ interest in cricket as a career, while more than 60% saw greater social acceptance of women’s cricket at grassroots level. The report also recorded increased participation in both softball and hardball cricket: 65% of respondents saw increased softball participation and 69% saw increased hardball participation.
The development of local opportunities was also reflected in institutional measures. Forty-nine percent of respondents saw more schools and clubs offering girls’ cricket, and 50% saw more interest in non-playing careers for women. In coaching, 62% saw more training workshops and programs for female coaches, while 67% saw an improvement in the quality of female coaches.
Officials were another part of the pathway. Nine out of 15 female match officials at the Women’s U19 T20 World Cup were appointed for that event. This is a count of appointments at that tournament, not a measure of all female officials in South Africa.
England’s teams and player pathways
The ECB State of Equity in Cricket Report 2025 says women’s and girls’ teams in England have doubled since 2021. By 2025, 3,036 clubs had a girls’ section and 2,761 girls’ teams were recorded. The number of clubs with a women’s section reached 1,545, with 1,364 women’s teams.
The participation environment also included practical support. Period dignity dispensers and sanitary bins were installed free of charge in 750 cricket clubs. In 2025, a record 30,627 girls took part in All Stars and Dynamos. Of those girls, 8,363 received bursaries, equal to 43% of all bursaries.
The professional domestic pathway changed sharply over the reported period. Women’s professional domestic cricketers rose from zero in 2019 to 129 in 2025. The count was 41 in 2020, meaning the reported number was 88 higher in 2025 than in 2020. These figures concern professional domestic cricketers and should not be read as the total number of women playing cricket.
Attendance and professional investment
The ECB reported several 2025 attendance figures for women’s domestic competitions. More than 97,000 ticket holders attended the inaugural Vitality Blast Women’s competition. Hampshire drew more than 3,000 spectators across four women’s double-headers, while Somerset drew 2,328 spectators for a standalone women’s match against Lancashire Thunder. The Tier 1 Vitality Blast finals day attracted 6,245 people, and almost 18,000 attended the Metro Bank One Day Cup women’s Tier 1 competition.
The Hundred was reported using more than one attendance figure. The ECB State of Equity in Cricket Report 2025 recorded 330,000 fans at women’s matches in The Hundred in 2025, while the same report also gave a total of 349,401 fans for the women’s competition. Because the source presents both measures, they should be retained as reported rather than combined or treated as identical.
England Women’s total attendance was 105,023 in 2024. The comparable figures supplied for 2018 and 2019 were 23,688 and 32,281 respectively. These are attendance totals for England Women in the stated years, not the same measure as competition-wide domestic attendance.
Investment and salaries provide another view of professional growth. The ECB committed an extra £8 million per year into women’s domestic cricket by 2027, with annual investment set to rise to around £19 million. The minimum domestic salary for women was equalised at £28,000 in 2025. The women’s domestic salary pot rose from £720,000 in 2021 to £4 million in 2025, compared with an approximately £24 million men’s equivalent salary pot in 2025.
| Women’s domestic measure | Earlier figure | Later or planned figure |
|---|---|---|
| Professional domestic cricketers | 0 in 2019 | 129 in 2025 |
| Domestic salary pot | £720,000 in 2021 | £4 million in 2025 |
| The Hundred average salary | £8,000 in 2021 | £29,100 in 2025 |
| The Hundred lowest salary band | £3,600 in 2021 | £10,000 in 2025 |
| The Hundred top salary | £15,000 in 2021 | Around £130,000 in 2026, planned |
In The Hundred women’s competition, the average salary rose from £8,000 in 2021 to £29,100 in 2025. The lowest salary band rose from £3,600 to £10,000 over the same comparison. The top salary is set to rise from £15,000 in 2021 to around £130,000 in 2026, and the minimum salary is set to reach £15,000 in 2026. The women’s share of total Hundred salary spend is set to be 43% in 2026, up from 25% in 2022.
Facilities, youth cricket and equality
The ECB Inspiring Generations 2025–2028 figures connect facilities, fixtures and youth programs. The ECB invested £12.7 million in women’s and girls’ facilities across 833 organisations. More than 20,000 women’s and girls’ fixtures were played in 2023, up by more than 20% year on year.
Since 2021, 80,000 unique girls have attended an All Stars or Dynamos course. Girls represented 35% of Dynamos players. Chance to Shine delivered cricket to more than 600,000 young people in 2022/23, with a 50/50 gender split in that delivery.
The ECB’s stated perception target also gives a forward-looking measure. It aims to increase the perception of cricket as gender equal to 65% by 2028, from 59%. This is a target for 2028, not an observed result for that year, so it belongs alongside the historical and current measures rather than being treated as a completed outcome.
Together, the figures span global interest, broadcast consumption, match attendance, school and club access, coaching, officiating, professional contracts, salaries and facilities. The measurement dates and geographies differ: the ICC audience research is global, the 2020 World Cup figures concern a specific tournament, South Africa’s legacy measures concern respondent perceptions and investment, and the ECB figures describe England’s domestic and development system.