The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has amended the laws of cricket to use gender-neutral terms ‘batter’ and ‘batters’ instead of ‘batsman’ or ‘batsmen’ in a bid to make the game inclusive for women cricketers. The keepers of the laws of the game had released a statement on Wednesday, officially effecting the change.
The decision was approved by the MCC committee following discussion with the club’s laws sub-committee. When the laws were redrafted in 2017, this was among the changes suggested but it was rejected.
“MCC believes in cricket being a game for all and this move recognises the changing landscape of the game in modern times,” said Jamie Cox, assistant secretary (cricket and operations), MCC.
“Use of the term “batter” is a natural evolution in our shared cricketing language and the terminology has already been adopted by many of those involved in the sport. It is the right time for this adjustment to be recognised formally and we are delighted, as the guardians of the Laws, to announce these changes today.”
The move was widely praised but also received criticism from a few who called the change “woke” and accused the lawmakers of trying to be politically correct.
English cricketer Alex Hartley slammed critics on Twitter, saying that some of the comments made her angry.
“If you hate it, grow up. Cricket is a sport for everyone and this is a small but big move,” wrote the 2017 Women’s World Cup winner and captain of Lancashire.
Though the current amendment is restricted to the term ‘batsman’, Hartley went on to respond to questions about other gendered terms.
“I personally call them ‘Third/Short Third’ and ‘Deep Third’. Easy change,” she said of the terms ‘third man’, ‘short third man’ and ‘deep third man’.
Hartley went on to suggest that the term ‘nightwatchman’ be used as ‘nightwatch’.
According to The Indian Express, the gender-neutral terms were implemented during the coverage of the inaugural season of ‘The Hundred’ in July.
The MCC had followed up their announcement of the amendment with the following tweet: “The fielding position ‘third man’, along with other cricketing terms like ‘nightwatchman’ and ‘12th Man’ are not included in the Laws, and so any changes to such terms are outside of MCC’s control as Guardians of the Laws.”
According to The Guardian, the newly adopted terminology predates the MCC. It was first employed in Lillywhite’s Illustrated Handbook of Cricket, published in 1844, said the English paper.
