The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has announced a revolutionary but much-needed change in the Laws of Cricket. It has taken a progressive step to abandon the use of the term batsmen and adopted a more inclusive term ‘batters’ to make the game more gender-neutral and accommodative for women’s cricket, which has seen an amazing rise in its stature in recent years.
“The changes are effective immediately and updates have been made to the Laws of Cricket published at lords.org/laws, with the Laws of Cricket App and printed editions to be amended accordingly at their next updates,” Lord’s, the headquarters of MCC and also known as the home of cricket wrote on its official website.
The people in the cricketing fraternity also welcomed the official change although many websites and apps had started using the term a few years ago itself.
MCC further said that the move to “batter” is a natural progression, aligning with the terms of bowlers and fielders that already sit within the Laws.
Jamie Cox, Assistant Secretary (Cricket and Operations) at MCC was thrilled with the change and hoped that with changing time the sport would keep on evolving and becoming all the more inclusive.
“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,” Cox said.
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,” he further added.