England’s women cricketers are to receive equal match fees to their male counterparts, beginning with Friday’s first T20I against Sri Lanka, following an explosion of interest in the format this summer, including record-breaking crowds of 110,000 over the course of seven Ashes matches in June and July.

The increase, which was recommended as an immediate step for the ECB to take by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket report earlier this summer, follows similar improvements to the funding pot for players in the Women’s Hundred and the regional domestic system.

The ICEC report, which found that the average England Women’s salary was 20.6% of their male equivalents (the ECB considers this figure closer to 30%), also set targets for equalising pay at domestic level by 2029 and for internationals by 2030.

Heather Knight, England Women’s captain, said the first steps were important in making cricket an “increasingly attractive” career option for girls and young women getting into the game.

“It’s really important that we continue to drive the women’s game forward and it’s fantastic to see equal match fees for England Women and England Men,” she said. “The direction of travel for the women’s game has always been the most important thing, creating a sustainable product that people want to watch and play, and I’m sure this will make cricket an increasingly attractive sport to girls and young women as we continue to grow the game.

“I would also like to thank the PCA and England Women’s Player Partnership for their support in representing the players and the growth of the professional game.”

The multi-format Ashes series saw new attendance records for women’s matches set consecutively at Edgbaston, the Kia Oval and Lord’s, the first ever sold-out women’s ODI series and an overall increase in tickets sales of more than 200% from 2019.

Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive officer, said: “This summer’s thrilling Metro Bank Women’s Ashes series demonstrated how women’s cricket is continuing to grow at pace in this country, with record attendances and TV viewing. Growing the women’s and girls’ game is a key priority for us, and in recent years we have considerably increased investment both in building a domestic women’s structure to produce the players of the future, and in increasing player rewards.

“In the years ahead, we will continue to invest ahead of revenues. We are currently considering all the recommendations made by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, but equalising match fees is one immediate step we are pleased to make now. We all want cricket to be the team sport of choice for female athletes, and with the investments we are making – and increasingly lucrative opportunities around the world – we are seeing cricketers become some of the highest earning female athletes in UK team sports. However, we know there is still much further to go as we ultimately strive for equality across the game.

“As we continue to grow women’s cricket, we will continue to focus on making considered investments that stretch far and wide across the women’s cricket structures, delivering a thriving, profitable and future-proofed game.”

Knight agreed with that sentiment, adding that the objective now was to ensure that girls get an equal opportunity to make a career in cricket, by hitting those targets for equal pay throughout the sport’s pathways as set out in the ICEC report.

“The priority is making women’s cricket sustainable, and making sure the pathway is there,” Knight added. “Quite often you get girls of similar ages that, when they come to make their international debut, they’ve played hardly any games compared to the guys. We want to make sure that girls are getting as much opportunity to play cricket and develop their skills in the domestic game as they do in the men’s.

“We’re starting to see players that are a lot more ready to play international cricket because they’ve been professional cricketers for a few years and played in high-standard competitions,” she added. “So continuing to grow that is important, although obviously there’s not an infinite pot of money. But this is another unbelievable step forward. And we’re hoping those steps continue to be in a forward direction.”