Photo Credit: ICC
Cricket Australia has today announced the list of 17 women’s players to be offered national contracts for 2023-24.
Kim Garth, Heather Graham and Phoebe Litchfield have all been offered contracts for the first time.
Garth and Graham were both part of Australia’s victorious T20 World Cup campaign in February while Litchfield was recently named in Australia’s squad for the CommBank Women’s Ashes Tour of the UK 2023.
Queenslander Grace Harris has also been offered a contract after earning an upgrade during the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The contracts are primarily assessed on player performances during the past 12 months and identify those whom the National Selection Panel believe will represent Australian teams over the year ahead.
As outlined in the new MOU agreement, the number of women’s CA contracts has increased and all of those holding contracts will now be recognised as full-time athletes.
Cricket Australia 2023-24 contracted women’s players
Darcie Brown (SA/Northern Districts CC)
Ashleigh Gardner (NSW/Bankstown CC)
Kim Garth (VIC/Dandenong CC)
Heather Graham (TAS/Clarence District CC)
Grace Harris (QLD/Western Suburbs CC)
Alyssa Healy (NSW/Sydney CC)
Jessica Jonassen (QLD/Valley District CC)
Alana King (WA/Midland Guildford CC)
Meg Lanning (VIC/Box Hill CC)
Phoebe Litchfield (NSW/Penrith CC)
Tahlia McGrath (SA/Glenelg CC)
Beth Mooney (WA/Sandgate-Redcliffe CC)
Ellyse Perry (VIC/Dandenong CC)
Megan Schutt (SA/Sturt CC)
Annabel Sutherland (VIC/Prahran CC)
Tayla Vlaeminck (VIC/Plenty Valley CC)
Georgia Wareham (VIC/Essendon Maribyrnong Park Ladies CC)
Rachael Haynes (retired) and Nicola Carey (declined offer) have dropped off the contracted player list for the upcoming season.
Players not awarded contracts as part of the initial squad of 17 can earn upgrades throughout the year by accruing 12 upgrade points. Female players receive five points for a Test match, two for a One-Day International and two for a T20 International.
Cricket Australia’s Head of Performance (Women’s Cricket) and National Selector, Shawn Flegler said:
“It’s been an incredibly successful 12 months for the Australian women’s team, but our attention now turns to the challenges ahead, particularly the upcoming Ashes Series in England.
“Grace Harris earned an upgrade last season and subsequently played every match throughout the T20 World Cup, she is a multi-skilled cricketer who can influence matches with both bat and ball.
“Kim Garth and Heather Graham have performed strongly at domestic level over the past 12 months, and both thoroughly deserve their spot on the list.
“Phoebe Litchfield is a young talent who we believe has a big future, she’s built her game upon a very sound technique and we’re confident she can transfer those skills into international cricket.
“Despite missing a large amount of cricket, Tayla Vlaeminck retains her contract which enables us to continue to support her on her return to play following a significant foot injury.
“We’ve had a core group of players performing well over the last 12 months which means some talented players have missed out, it’s certainly made selection tough but we’re in a fortunate position to have such depth across Australian Cricket.
“Importantly, there is still the opportunity for players not offered contracts to earn upgrades through consistent performances, as we saw with Grace last year.
“We’re about to embark on a busy 12-month period, beginning with several training camps next month at the National Cricket Centre ahead of a Tour of the UK for Australia and Australia A squads.
“With that in mind, Nicola Carey expressed a desire to spend the winter in Tasmania to allow her to utilise a full preseason at home, focusing on using that time to develop skills in her game to push for international selection in the future.
“We offered Nic a contract because we believe she is a player of international quality, but we respect her decision to focus on a pre-season program with Tasmania and will continue to support her moving forward.”
