The woman charged with increasing female participation in Bendigo cricket has backed calls from one of the sport’s top administrators to roll out gender-neutral terminology.

West Australian Cricket Association chief executive Christina Matthews said this week the terms third man, 12th man, fieldsman, batsman and nightwatchman should be changed to make the sport more inclusive for women players.

Not changing the masculine language of sport was disrespectful to women, she said.  

While Bendigo Cricket Association women’s co-ordinator Carli Eaton said cricket terminology was not the biggest issue facing the women’s game, she acknowledged it could prohibit some people from wanting to play the sport.

While she used terms third man or 12th man, Ms Eaton said the word “batter” was common parlance for a cricketer at the crease. 

“We’re so indoctrinated that we don’t really think about it until someone brings it up,” she said.

“There’s absolutely no harm in changing the terms.”

She believed the language would eventually shift to reflect the growing number of women taking part in the sport.

Things were already changing for female cricketers, largely due to the attention the Women’s Big Bash League garnered, Ms Eaton said. 

But it was an underestimation of female players’ skill levels and a lack of grass roots competitions she believed were the biggest roadblocks to equality.

“You've got to have somewhere for kids to start,” she said, explaining mixed competitions were not the answer.

“For a lot of girls, that's prohibitive because they are intimidated by the boys and the boys’ attitude towards girls in cricket.”

The BDCA runs an all-girls junior competition in which two age-groups – under-13 and under-16 – take part.

However, Bendigo remains without a women’s league, leaving aspiring players like Ms Eaton no choice but to hang up their helmets.  

The BDCA official played cricket in Canberra before re-locating to Bendigo last year.

Cricket language was not the only gendered aspect of the sport, Ms Eaton said, pointing out uniforms and equipment normally produced in boys’ and mens’ sizes were a bad fit for women.