Australian cricketer Ellyse Perry says it was “really hard” to hear the struggles endured by her former captain Meg Lanning, who retired last year at 31.
Lanning earlier this month revealed the reasons for her decision on a podcast, saying she had developed “an unhealthy relationship” with exercise and food.
Perry, a long-time teammate of Lanning, said she wanted the best for her former captain, and that Lanning was “incredibly brave” for sharing her experience.
“I’m sure in doing so she hopes that that helps other people as well who experience similar things,” she said.
“I think it’s obviously really hard to hear that as a teammate and to know that someone that you’ve played with so closely for a long period of time, has had some struggles.”
Perry was speaking at the launch of Cricket Australia’s new Women and Girls Action Plan on Tuesday at the MCG, and said the game had to do more to support elite female athletes.
According to Perry, who helped draft the plan, not enough research was being undertaken around issues like disordered eating and mental health.
“As a result, we don’t know enough to support people as best as we possibly can,” she said.
CA’s chief executive, Nick Hockley, said the women’s game had rapidly professionalised in recent years, creating challenges that his organisation has been trying to address with the necessary support.
“One of the things [Lanning] talked about on the podcast was actually just being able to speak to people has really helped,” he said. “So hopefully there are some really strong lessons in that for everybody, and I just commend her leadership.”
The plan states, “we can do more to support this [player] development, including mental health, throughout the increasingly crowded global cricket calendar.”
It has been developed in consultation with women’s players and administrators and focuses on filling stadiums and growing viewing audiences for women’s internationals and the WBBL.
The transition from a 56-game WBBL regular season to a 40-match schedule is similar to the refinement undergone by the men’s BBL last year, and is designed to allow international players to play for a larger share of matches.
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The tighter window of WBBL will be augmented by a new state-level domestic T20 competition which will provide more pathways for elite talent.
The changes mean CA will increase expenditure on these state players, driving the average wage for athletes across WBBL, state contracts and domestic match payments to $163,000. Last season, the average was $151,000.
National team players are excluded from these calculations, and top Australian players are estimated to earn up to $800,000 a year, with personal endorsements and other work separate.
The plan also includes 10-year targets, including an average annual attendance for all women’s cricket in Australia of 600,000 and growing revenue from women’s cricket to $121m, an increase of $100m.
The plan seeks to grow children’s participation for five- to 12-year-old girls from 25,000 to 100,000 by 2034, and achieve at least 40% female representation in key off-field positions across Australian cricket.
The Australian Cricketers Association chief executive, Todd Greenberg, said the plan is “a further step in the right direction – but if we are to continue the progress we’ve made, we can’t miss a step in better commercialising what is a premium sporting product that has a passionate and dedicated audience”.
