Since the early Nineteenth century, cricket has gradually developed from an amateur recreational sport in England into a fully professional international sport from which leading players can earn a large income.

Amateur and professional status in English cricket

For many generations there was a formal divide in English cricket between amateurs and professionals, or "Gentlemen and Players" as they were known at the time. Although amateurs and professionals often played together in the same team, they would use separate dressing rooms. The amateurs referred to the professionals by their surname only, but the professionals called the amateurs "sir". However, this was not specific to cricket, but was the normal nomenclature used between middle and working class associates at that time. The "Gentlemen and Players" divide was a reflection of the divide between officers and other ranks in the army and it seemed perfectly natural to most English people of all classes in the 19th Century.

An amateur would often be appointed as the captain of a team despite being one of the worst players, or even not good enough to belong in the team at all on the basis of cricketing skills. This even applied to international test cricket.

In the 20th century the position gradually changed in cricket as English society became more egalitarian. There was also a mounting problem of shamateurism as the number of men who could afford to play cricket full time for several months each year without being paid to do so decreased. Some "amateur" players were given a largely nomimal job as "club secretary" and there were sometimes allegations that a few were paid surreptiously. The old distinction became increasingly out of step with social conditions after the Second World War and amateur status was abolished in English cricket in 1963.

Earning a living from cricket

The earliest professional cricketers were the members of early nineteenth century touring teams. When county cricket began to formalise in the late 19th century, the counties also employed professionals. The better supported and therefore richer counties such as Surrey often had teams made up largely of professional players with an amateur captain, while poorer counties such as Somerset relied much more heavily on amateurs to allow them to field a team without going into the red. However, early professionals were paid a low weekly wage and during the off season, which could last for nearly eight months, most were left to fend for themselves and had to take whatever work they could get. A few played professional football in the winter. In order to provide cricketers with some financial security after their playing careers, the benefit system was developed, but this was generally a poor substitute for good wages and a pension

By the post Second World War period, most cricketers were on an fixed salary, but only for the summer months and until the 1970s, the earnings of professional cricketers were low. In England many cricketers needed to find other jobs over the winter to make ends meet, and in other countries with less demanding domestic cricket schedules most cricketers fitted their cricket in with study or a regular job. Things began to change in 1977 when cricket was shaken up the Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer. By offering cricketers higher wages than had ever been known in the sport before, Packer induced many of the world's most famous cricketers to abandon the official cricket competitions and play solely in a new competition called World Series Cricket which was broadcast by a television network which he owned. This was one of the biggest crises in the history of the sport, but it was patched up after a couple of years, when Packer's channel was granted the rights to official matches. The earnings of top cricketers from "official" cricket then began to escalate.

In the early 21st century cricket is still not one of the more lucrative major sports, but international cricketers typically earn several times the average salary in their country. Regular members of the English cricket team earn several hundred thousands pounds sterling a year. However, the highest paid cricketers in the world are the star members of the Indian cricket team, who make most of their income from sponsorship contracts. Cricket is the main sport in India, and the players are front rank celebrities, especially Sachin Tendulkar, who is the world's highest paid cricketer with an income estimated by the Times of India in 2004 to be in excess of five million US dollars a year, nearly all of it from endorsements.

It is also possible to earn an adequate annual income from domestic cricket in some countries, especially in England where the eighteen first class counties each employ about twenty players, most of whom earn at least the national average salary for the six month season, and some considerably more. Nonetheless many cricketers use the offseason to prepare for a post-cricket career.