The announcement of a new framework for international and domestic contracts in New Zealand has been widely reported this week, and hailed as a big step forward for the women’s game there.

New Zealand Cricket has set aside $1.3m per year – about £750,000 – to pay players over the next 3 years, with the centrally contracted international squad earning a minimum of $44,000 (£23,000) per year, up to a maximum of around $80,000 (£43,000) per year for the top tier, including match fees.

This is significantly less than the top Australian or Indian internationals, but only slightly less than England, and considerably more than anywhere else – it establishes New Zealand firmly in the top 4 for internationals, and will doubtless serve to keep players in the game who might have otherwise started to look at their options.

Equally significantly, New Zealand have pledged to introduce paid central contracts for the first time for an additional 60-or-so domestic players competing in the T20 Super Smash and 50-over Hallyburton Johnstone competitions, which were previously 100% amateur.

While this undoubtedly moves New Zealand cricket a significant step forwards, there has been some confusion about quite how far.

Although these players will be “contracted” most of them will initially be earning only $3,000 per year – approximately £1,800. So while the fact that these agreements will be called “contracts” is exciting, they are actually only worth about half the amount that English domestic players can currently earn from the Kia Super League – and considerably less than even the lower-end numbers which have been rumoured for next year with the new Hundred and CoEs competitions in England.

So this is not professionalism or even semi-professionalism. As Suzie Bates put it in Cricket New Zealand’s press release, it is “[a] starting point for the eventual semi-professionalisation of the women’s domestic game in New Zealand.” [Emphasis ours.]

It is still an important step though – women’s cricket needs New Zealand to be competitive and to to give us stars like Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine – and this new announcement hopefully means that they will continue to do so in the years to come.