Cute Female Cricketer

               World of Cricket

Ellyse Perry, Lisa Sthalekar, Sarah Edwards and Emma Sampson are all smiles after yesterday's announcement.

AUSTRALIA'S leading female cricketers are about to get paid, which won't enable them to ditch their day jobs but could help the sport hang on to teen wonder Ellyse Perry, the fresh young face of next year's World Cup.

Perry and vice-captain Lisa Sthalekar, who is among the world's finest female batters, have welcomed the new contract system for the national Southern Stars squad, under which the top 20 players will share in a $500,000 pool of money from Cricket Australia.

"It is a wonderful first step, and it is going to enable girls to tour without having to worry about the bills at home. It is a significant increase in the amount of money we will be getting whilst we're away," said Sthalekar.

"I don't think we're at the stage yet where any of us can quit our full-time jobs and be professional athletes but we're on the way towards that and there's got to be some initial baby steps taken. This is a great start."

The payment pool will fund contracts on three tiers, which are expected to be worth up to $15,000 for the top players, plus tour fees, paid ambassadorial roles and educational support.

The latter will be particularly relevant to Perry, who at 17 captured the public imagination with a starring role in a televised Twenty20 game as a curtain-raiser to the Australian men's blockbuster against India at the MCG in February.

Since then, she has also represented her country in soccer, playing for the Matildas at the Asia Cup in Vietnam.

Perry is everything Australian cricket wants — she's talented, athletic, articulate and attractive — and along with Sthalekar will be a central figure in marketing campaigns for the World Cup, to be staged in Sydney and its surrounds in March. Naturally, cricket is desperate to keep her and while Perry is in no hurry to choose, the new payment scheme won't hurt.

"For someone like me, with the education grants and that sort of thing, it does really help to set me up for the future as well, and help me think outside of cricket, because I obviously can't play for the rest of my life, as much as I would love to, and to have that kind of support is great," said Perry, who is also completing her final year at high school and aiming to continue studying.

"I try not to look too far ahead because I would love to continue playing soccer and cricket for as long as possible. To do that, it's important to make sure I'm just concentrating on the present and not getting too stressed out about future clashes and that sort of thing.

"I've had the chance to play two international sports, and they are vastly different and fantastic experiences. I feel I have learned a heck of a lot, and I've really enjoyed swapping between the two."

Australia is the second country, after England, to offer contracts to its best female players. It is a vast improvement on the previous $75-a-day allowance, and should ease the pressure on the Southern Stars who host India in October and tour New Zealand in February before the World Cup.

Next winter they will travel to England for the world Twenty20 championships, the snappier format allowing them to play alongside the men at an International Cricket Council event for the first time.

Most of the players have full-time jobs — Sthalekar is a high-performance coach with Cricket NSW and teammate Alex Blackwell is a university lecturer in anatomy and physiology — and often take unpaid leave to play for Australia.