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'About time': Cricket world divided over groundbreaking change

Andrew Reid
·4-min read
Seen here, Aussie batter Alyssa Healy celebrates a batting milestone during a match.
Batsmen will now be referred to as batters after changes from cricket's lawmakers. Pic: Getty

Cricket's lawmakers have made a small but significant change to promote inclusiveness in the sport, but not everyone is a fan of the move.

The Marylebone Cricket Club has replaced the word 'batsman' with the gender-neutral alternative 'batter' in changes to the laws of the game.

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The MCC, which owns Lord's, is recognised as the sole authority on cricket's laws and has taken the decision to update its terminology in a bid to achieve greater inclusivity.

The matter was previously addressed in 2017, but it was decided not to make a change at that point.

Jamie Cox, assistant secretary (Cricket and Operations) at the club, said: "MCC believes in cricket being a game for all and this move recognises the changing landscape of the game in modern times.

"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."

An Australian batter walks off after getting out in a women's T20 match.
The changes are designed to make cricket a more inclusive sport. Pic: Getty

The decision was largely welcomed on social media, but there were a predictable number of dissenting voices commenting on the MCC's Twitter thread.

Alex Hartley, the 2017 Women's World Cup winner and former Hobart Hurricanes spinner, took on critics of the move.

She wrote "Some of the comments on this post make me angry. If you hate it, grow up. Cricket is a sport for everyone and this is a small but big move."

Former Australian captain Lisa Sthalekar added: “About time … thank you.”

Cricket writer George Dobell posted: “I know some people are uneasy about this but I’m pretty confident it’s the right thing to do. It harms nobody, costs nothing and might be just a bit more inclusive.”

Cricket fans debate changes to sport

Plenty of fans weighed in on the changes on social media, where many applauded the move, while others criticised it for pandering to a "woke" society.

Responding to some of the replies, Hartley also suggested use of the words 'nightwatcher' instead of 'nightwatchman' and 'third' in place of 'third man'.

However, the MCC says its laws do not govern fielding positions or other terms for batters, hence why they were not changed as well.

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," an MCC statement read on Twitter.

with AAP

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