• Marylebone Cricket Club announced an amendment to the Laws of Cricket with the gender-neutral term ‘batter’ to be used from now on instead of ‘batsman’.

• A number of governing bodies and media organisations are already using the term ‘batter’ in their playing conditions and reporting. 

• The club, the sole authority on the Laws of Cricket, said the use of the terminology would help reinforce cricket’s status as an inclusive game for all.

• 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, the club said.

Marylebone Cricket Club

• Marylebone Cricket Club was founded in 1787, taking as its home a cricket ground set up by the ambitious entrepreneur Thomas Lord staged his first match – between Middlesex and Essex – on a ground on Dorset Fields in Marylebone.

• The following year, MCC laid down a Code of Laws, requiring the wickets to be pitched 22 yards apart and detailing how players could be given out. Its Laws were adopted throughout the game – and the Club today remains the custodian and arbiter of Laws relating to cricket around the world.

• In the 1870s, MCC decided it wanted to get involved in county cricket, which was growing in popularity, and, in 1877, it invited Middlesex to adopt Lord’s as its county ground.

• The MCC welcomed its first female full member in 2018, 20 years after a vote to allow women to join.

• Former England captain Clare Connor, the England and Wales Cricket Board's managing director of women’s cricket, will become the first female president in the club’s history next month when she takes over from Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara.

The rise in popularity of women’s cricket

• Women’s cricket has enjoyed unprecedented growth at all levels around the world in the same period. England’s victory over India in the 2017 World Cup Final took place in front of a capacity crowd at Lord’s. 

• A record international crowd saw Australia defeat India in the T20 World Cup Final in Melbourne three years later and earlier this year, Lord’s broke the record for a domestic women’s match as 17,116 watched Oval Invincibles defeat Southern Brave.

• The International Cricket Council, the world governing body of the sport, requires all 12 of its full members to have a national women’s team. 

• Women’s cricket will feature at the Commonwealth Games for the first time at the 2022 Games in Birmingham, England.

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