First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which is based at Lord’s and is the sole authority on the laws of the game since it was founded in 1787, made the change in the Laws of Cricket last month to stress the importance of the women’s game.

“The ICC has been utilising the term ‘batter’ for some time now across our channels and in commentary and we welcome the MCC’s decision to implement it into the laws of cricket and will follow suit with our playing conditions that are derived from the laws,” said ICC acting CEO Geoff Allardice.

“This is a natural and perhaps overdue evolution of our sport and now our batters are gender neutral in the same way as bowlers, fielders and wicket keepers,” Allardice said. “It’s a small change, but one that I hope will have a significant impact on cricket being viewed as a more inclusive sport.”

The preliminary round matches of the men’s T20 World Cup will start on 17 October in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

England won the 2017 Women’s World Cup final in front of a capacity crowd at Lord’s, and the women’s World T20 final between Australia and India last year attracted more than 80,000 to the Melbourne Cricket Ground in increasing signs of popularity of the women’s game.

“Why not take a small step to ensuring we’re a sport that doesn’t exclude 50% of the world’s population with outdated language choices,” Allardice said. “Whilst some may have made lots of noise against this common-sense change, the majority of people within the game have welcomed the move.” Reuters/DM168

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