Mad as a batter: Agnew takes swipe at BBC over gender neutral cricket terminology
JONATHAN AGNEW, the BBC’S departing chief cricket correspondent, has complained over cricket’s adoption of the gender-neutral “batter” for batsman and references to the Ashes as the “Men’s Ashes”.
Agnew, who has just signed a new four-year contract to remain part of the BBC’S Test Match Special team, announced earlier this month that he will step down after 33 years as cricket correspondent at the end of summer.
“This was my call,” he said. “I think you can be in a job for too long.”
However, in an interview with The Sunday Times, the 64-year-old Agnew alluded to certain frustrations. “I hate ‘batter’,” he said. “I always call a woman batsman a ‘batter’. But why can’t a man playing a man’s game be a ‘batsman’?”
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) replaced the term “batsman” with the gender-neutral “batter” back in 2021, saying that cricket was “a game for all and this move recognises the changing landscape of the game in modern times”. It is a terminology that has been adopted in the media, including at the BBC. “I just think it’s sad,” said Agnew. “Inclusivity’s great, but come on!”
Agnew, who is currently speaking around the country in his An Evening with Aggers tour, also spoke about the 142-year history of the Ashes contest between England and Australia. There has been a women’s Ashes trophy since 1998, following on from a name that first emerged in respect of the 1882-3 series between the England and Australia men.
“That doesn’t mean to say that the Ashes has to be the ‘Men’s Ashes’,” said Agnew, before asking if that was old fashioned and if he would look like a dinosaur. “People will call me an old fart, I suppose,” he said, before adding: “It’s an event. It happened. It’s not the ‘Men’s Battle of Hastings’, is it?”
In discussing his departure later this year as cricket correspondent, Agnew referenced the pressure of the job and “turning back from school runs, abandoning shopping trolleys in Tesco” and his love of Test cricket.
“I can’t get excited by somebody’s move from the Delhi Daredevils to the wotsit,” he said. “If people are brought up thinking that is what cricket is, that’s a real shame. The game has clearly changed a lot.”
Earlier this month, in announcing his decision to stay on at TMS until at least 2028 but to leave the correspondent’s job, Agnew said: “I am really delighted I shall continue to present Test Match Special for the next four years. It is a unique programme of which I am immensely proud.
“However, this does seem the right time for me to step back ... in a quickly changing cricket landscape it is time for fresh legs to cover the daily duties, leaving me to focus entirely on TMS.”