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       England's Amy Jones responds to a pitch against New Zealand on Sept. 23, 2021. The game’s rule maker, London’s Marylebone Cricket Club, announced this week that the 'batsman' position will now be known as 'batter.'

       CARL RECINE/Reuters

       For almost 250 years cricket has clung to the term “batsman” to refer to the player – male or female – attempting to hit the ball. But that’s about to change after the game’s rule maker, London’s Marylebone Cricket Club, announced this week that the position will now be known as “batter.”

       It’s a subtle but controversial alteration that has outraged traditionalists, who call it “ultra-woke grandstanding,” and garnered praise from players who say it will make the game more inclusive. “Cricket is a sport for everyone, and this is a small but big move,” said English cricketer and Women’s World Cup winner Alex Hartley. “If you hate it, grow up.”

       The MCC announced the rule change late Wednesday, saying it was a bid to adopt more gender-neutral terminology. “MCC believes in cricket being a game for all, and this move recognizes the changing landscape of the game in modern times,” said Jamie Cox, the club’s assistant secretary of cricket operations. “Use of the term ‘batter’ is a natural evolution in our shared cricketing language.”

       The decision marked a sharp reversal for the MCC, which rejected calls to make the change in 2017 by arguing it was “a term of the game” that applied equally well to men and women.

       The club’s hand has been forced by the growth of the women’s game and the widespread use of “batter” by commentators. On Wednesday, the MCC acknowledged it could no longer hold out. “The changes announced today reflect the wider usage of the terms ‘batter’ and ‘batters,’ which has occurred in cricketing circles in the intervening period.”

       Cricket isn’t alone in struggling with often outdated terminology. British soccer stopped using “linesman” in 1996 and adopted “assistant referee” in a bid to “better reflect their modern role.” Most soccer clubs in Britain also no longer refer to the “man of the match” and use “player of the game” instead.

       In North America, hockey has been gradually adopting “defender” instead of “defenceman.” And several professional sports teams – including the NFL’s Washington Redskins, the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball and the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos – have changed their nicknames after years of outcry from Indigenous communities.

       Some leagues have also dropped the qualifier “women’s” from their names in order to promote equality. Last year, the name of Finland’s top division in women’s soccer was changed from the Women’s League to the National League. “People come to the games to see top athletes play quality football,” said Ari Lahti, the president of Finland’s Football Association. “That is why women’s football should be treated equally with men’s football.”

       But cricket has often been a laggard in modernizing its long-standing traditions and jargon.

       Until recently, most cricket fans and officials used a racist term to describe an unorthodox left-handed throwing style.

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       It wasn’t until 2018 that Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, an annual reference book that’s considered the bible of the sport, dropped the offensive term to describe slow left-arm wrist-spin bowlers. A Wisden spokesman said: “The designation is no longer appropriate, so we’re changing it.”

       The MCC was also slow to change “fieldsman” to “fielders,” and the club took more than 200 years to admit women, in 1999. Next month, it will welcome its first female president, former England international captain Clare Connor.

       Wednesday’s announcement drew a largely positive response from players and pundits. “If you have always felt included because the language surrounding you fits, then this might seem insignificant,” English cricketer Kate Cross said on Twitter. “But if you haven’t had that luxury, then steps like this are crucial to making everyone feel welcome.”

       However, some traditionalists balked at the decision and criticized the MCC for stomping on the game’s history. “There will be legions of cricket lovers of both genders through whose lips the abomination ‘batter’ will never pass so long as we live,” historian Simon Heffer wrote in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday. “Changing a word may be a small matter to those outside the game, but to those of us who love cricket it is a sign of something sinister and self-destructive.”

       Cricket still has some sexist terminology that the MCC says it can’t change, including a fielding position called the “third man,” a late-game batter known as the “night-watchman” and a substitute fielder called “the 12th man.” Those terms “are not included in the laws,” the MCC said, “so any changes to such terms are outside of MCC’s control as guardians of the laws.”

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