Cricket Australia has announced a new parental leave policy aimed at making it easier for players to start families and for female players to continue their careers.
Under the new scheme, announced on Friday, players who fall pregnant can transfer to a non-playing role until they give birth and be eligible for 12-months paid parental and adoption leave.
They'll also have a guaranteed new contract the following year.
Retired cricketer Emily Divin applauded the move and told SBS News it was difficult juggling being a mother and a professional athlete.
Australian cricketer Alyssa Healy. Source: AAP
"It was a really challenging time, we had a lot of competing priorities that didn't really marry at the time and there are a lot of challenges around that," she said.
"We've been through the hard stuff but to see it improve for people coming in now and in the future is really exciting."
Mothers will now be able to return to play once given medical clearance and children's flights, accommodation and care will be paid for on tour up until age four.
Grounds will also have breastfeeding spaces and the deal extends down into state and Big Bash cricket.
The Australian Women's ODI Cricket Team. Source: AAP
Star wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy said the announcement would stop pregnancy being treated like an injury.
"It's a game-changer. It's definitely going to extend careers and keep players in the game for longer," Healy said.
"I always thought that being a female athlete and wanting kids you retire by 30 and then you started life."
But the new policy will not just help female players; male players will also have three weeks of fully-paid paternity leave and their children will be given the same on-tour benefits if they are the primary carers.
"If it's your partner that's having the child the three weeks paid leave I think it will come in very much handy," Healy said.
The announcement comes after female players in the past had to give up the sport when they gave birth, with Victorian Sarah Elliott the only mother to have played for Australia this decade.
Equal pay and conditions remain hotly contested in female sports, with Megan Rapinoe leading the charge earlier this year when 28 US women's soccer players filed a lawsuit against their own governing body.
In 2015, the Australian women's soccer team, the Matildas, staged their own strike aimed at closing the gender pay gap in professional sport.
Both Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) lauded the deal as a new pinnacle in sport.
"There shouldn't be a female player who needs to retire to have a family. They should be able to do both together," ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson said.
"If you spend all that time developing skills you don't want that to end."
With additional reporting from AAP
