Gender neutral terminology introduced on Adelaide Oval’s historic scoreboard

The historic scoreboard at the Adelaide Oval scoreboard has introduced gender-neutral terminology to align with recent changes to the Laws of Cricket.

112-year-old scoreboard at the famous venue no makes reference to ‘batting’, rather than the word ‘batsmen’.

The switch was made ahead of Friday’s Women’s Big Bash League matches at the Adelaide venue, which will also host Saturday’s final.

The heritage-listed scoreboard, erected in 1911, is one of the few features of the original ground to have survived last decade’s redevelopment.

The Laws of Cricket were officially amended in 2021 to include the gender-neutral terms ‘batter’ and ‘batters’ rather than ‘batsman’ and ‘batsmen’. In 2000, Marylebone Cricket Club similarly updated the Laws so the term ‘fieldsman’ was replaced by ‘fielder’.

At the time the late Shane Warne supported the move towards gender-neutral cricket terminology, noting “I am all for it. I think it is good.

“It is a popular sport and it is important that it gets with the times.”

The Strikers, who topped the WBBL standings with 11 wins during the group stage, will face either the Perth Scorchers, Brisbane Heat or Sydney Thunder in this weekend’s final.

The Strikers are aiming to become the first club to win consecutive WBBL titles since Brisbane achieved the feat in 2019.

Image: The scoreboard at Adelaide Oval during the first day of the test match between Australia and New Zealand in November 2008. Credit: Richard Woods. File licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.