Sydney, Sep 26 (ANI): Indian origin Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar has said women cricketers need their own Mrs. Kerry Packer, and added that the organisers should put in more money to support Eves cricket.
Sthalekar, who is a member of the Australian Cricketers' Association executive, hopes to help retain women in domestic cricket beyond their mid-20s, when they need to get serious about their paid jobs.
On the eve of Australia's World Twenty20 defence in Sri Lanka, Sthalekar said everyone accepts that Twenty20 is the format that can make the women's game commercially sustainable.
But in this tournament, she said the men are paid more generous living allowances and are playing for a share of 2.64 million Australian dollars compared with a 158,000 Australian dollars prize pool for the women's tournament.
Sthalekar said she remembers the victorious England men taking off on a lap of honour during the last edition of the women's T20 World Cup.
"That's OK, you can run through our warm-up! That wouldn't happen if it was the other way around. But it was great, because everyone was full of rum and decided to stick around," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Sthalekar, as saying.
"You've got to fight the right battles. There's only so much money they can put into women's cricket; obviously we don't generate any money, so we've got to find an avenue," she added.
"Hence, we've decided this is our main format, even though, as players, we all want to be playing Test cricket. We need a Mrs. Kerry Packer to see the women's game and revolutionize it," she said. (ANI)
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