Half the money will be handed out in grants to clubs, schools and cricket associations that want to start dedicated girls' teams, the other half will pay full-time female sport participation specialists who will work to make the program a success.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said he wanted to provide opportunities for girls to play in all-girl teams if they wished to do so, rather than being forced to play with boys.

With the inaugural AFL women's competition set to launch next year, he noted that cricket had been running a national women's competition for decades.

"There's a lot happening in women's sport round the country at the moment, there's been a whole lot of announcements about what different sports are doing," he said.

"But it's a good time to remind everyone that we've had a national competition for women in cricket for over 70 years now in Australia. We think we can co-exist with other sports, but we do want to be a sport of choice. We're really proud of the history that cricket has with women."

Sutherland, who has a daughter playing in a boys' side, said one of the key goals of the funding was to create more girls' teams.

"It is an important point ... where we want to get to with women's cricket and girls' cricket is having opportunities where there are enough girls to make up a team and girls feel really comfortable in the cricket environment," he said.

"That's where these new competitions and the approach that clubs take to provide opportunities for girls and make them feel comfortable in that environment ... is where we're going to take the next step as a sport for all."

Southern Stars fast bowler Holly Ferling, who is from Kingaroy in rural Queensland, said when she first started playing cricket she was not even aware that there was a women's national team.

In her A-grade cricket debut in the men's competition as a 14-year-old, she bowled a hat-trick with her first three balls.

Ferling said she enjoyed playing in boys and men's cricket teams, but she could understand why some girls and women would find joining a mostly male team intimidating.

"I enjoyed it, it was a challenge – always a challenge," she said. "That was the one thing that kept us coming back. It was always good bowling out the boys.

"But I can completely understand why it can be quite scary, coming into a boys' or a men's team."

She said she had seen a major change over eight or nine years in the public awareness of the female game.

"I went from not knowing that girls played cricket to going along to clinics and girls saying they want to play for the Southern Stars and the Brisbane Heat," she said.

Stars wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy said as a child she would play in boys' teams each Saturday and Sunday, but would have jumped at the chance to be involved in a girls' team.

She said the funding would allow girls to chose to play in girls' or boys' teams, or both.

"You could go and play in a girls' team on Sunday with 10 of your best mates then play boys' cricket on Saturday if you love cricket that much," she said.

Cricket Australia launched its women's Big Bash League last summer, a competition which surpassed the expectations of many in the crowds it drew and its television audience.

The national AFL women's competition will begin early next year.