On Wednesday, September 22, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) announced that it had replaced 'batsman' and 'batsmen' with 'batter' and 'batters' in official documents.

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This, according to a statement released by the MCC, was done to emphasise cricket's focus on inclusion.

"MCC believes that the use of gender-neutral terminology helps reinforce cricket's status as an inclusive game for all," the MCC said in its statement.

"The amendments are a natural evolution from work already undertaken in this area as well as an essential part of MCC's global responsibility to the sport."

The MCC oversees the writing and maintenance of the laws of cricket, and has followed the lead of a number of smaller governing bodies who had already made their use of language in the game more inclusive.

Cricket NSW has thrown its support behind the changes, which CEO Lee Germon said "make a real difference".

"We would like to commend the MCC's positive steps in this area, which is an area in which CNSW have been proactive in for four years now," Germon said.

"Language changes like this make a real difference and are very important as we strive to make the game more inclusive and inspire more and more people to play and love cricket.

"The more we can do to encourage women and girls to feel welcomed in our great game the better."

In its statement, Cricket NSW said it had been using gender-neutral language and applying gender-neutral terms to all umpire training and educational courses for the last four years.

This is not the first time the MCC has addressed the 'batsman/batter' issue. In 2017, it reportedly consulted "key figures in women's cricket" but decided not to change 'batsman/batsmen' terminology until this year due to the rapid growth of women's cricket.

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