CRICKET MANIFESTO A CHANGE FOR THE BATTER

ONE of cricket’s most influential women, Christina Matthews, expects the “12th man”, “third man” and “nightwatchman” to be the next terms to fall as the sport moves to being more inclusive.

“I think that‘ll be easy to change as most people nowadays refer to it as 12th and third,” she said. “A nightwatchman is a little bit more difficult but someone will come up with a way of changing that.”

Four years ago it was Matthews who publicly called for the Marylebone Cricket Club in Britain to officially change the law and embrace the term “batters” rather than “batsman” to create a more gender-neutral environment.

While Matthews, the WACA chief executive and former international, wasn’t successful in her push for change then, she said Wednesday was a “great day” for the sport following the formal MCC announcement the laws had changed. She also recounted the fierce backlash when she first called for the laws to be changed in February 2017.

“In 2017 someone said to me I was ‘stealing the game of men’ and trying to ‘ruin the game’ – just ridiculous things,” Matthews said. “Back then it was a controversial call.

“For me today, and a lot of people, is a great day.

“It‘s a really strong signal that cricket is really changing.“