The MCC have announced a change to their plans to honour women's cricket pioneer Rachael Heyhoe Flint after "consultation with stakeholders".
The MCC announced last year that they were planning to rename the North Gate at Lord's after her, with Heyhoe Flint captaining England to victory at the inaugural Women's Cricket World Cup. The announcement drew criticism from some MCC members at the time, who argued she did not deserve the honour.
Cricket author and MCC member Mark Peel describe the move as "gesture politics", saying: "It would put everything out of proportion. "To compare like with like — men's and women’s cricket — is plain wrong. This is gesture politics."
Fellow member Robert Griffiths QC added: "As a player you wouldn’t put her in the same league as Don Bradman and Garry Sobers, even within the women’s game. I wouldn’t want it to be thought that Rachael didn’t make a huge contribution but WG Grace opened up the world of cricket to the heights it reached."
However, less than a year on from their initial announcement, the MCC have released an update. Instead of renaming the North Gate after Heyhoe Flint, they will be renaming the East Gate after her following "consultation with stakeholders".
The MCC said the change has been made due to "concerns about the impact on the leasehold land", although they did say they were "confident these concerns could have been addressed". The new plans to honour Heyhoe Flint have been widely welcomed by MCC members.
In a statement, they said: "The new gate is in the process of being commissioned and will be unveiled at a special opening ceremony ahead of the South Africa Test Match in August. This means the gate will be operational in time for England Women’s One-Day International and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy Final."
MCC Chief Executive Guy Lavender said: "Everyone at MCC is thrilled that we will have a permanent commemoration celebrating Rachael’s outstanding contribution to women’s cricket. The East Gate will now be an apt tribute to an incredible pioneer of our sport, who paved the way for many cricketers of their generation and generations to come."
However, women's cricket writer and university lecturer Dr Rafaelle Nicholson was critical of the alteration on social media, suggesting the MCC were "backtracking". She wrote on Twitter : "MCC quietly slip out the news that the North Gate will NOT be renamed the Heyhoe Flint Gate, due to 'stakeholder concerns'.
"Instead the East Gate (less busy, open less often) will become the Heyhoe Flint Gate. Feels an awful lot like backtracking to me…"
