The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London voted last night to admit women members for the first time in its 211-year history, with 69.8 per cent of 13,482 male members who took part in the vote approving the move. The decision came at a special general meeting of MCC members, the second such vote, to consider a motion to admit women members. When MCC members took a vote on the same issue in February, 56 per cent of members agreed to admit women to Lord's, but that fell short of the two-thirds majority required under the club's rules.
The failure to admit women was criticised by Sports Minister Tony Banks and Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the MCC Committee urged members to accept women at Lord's, saying the ban posed a "serious threat" to the club's chances of securing National Lottery funding and corporate sponsorship.
It is expected that during the next year 18 women will be made honorary members, with another six selected each year afterwards. Other women hoping to join the MCC will, however, have to join the 18-year waiting list with the rest of the men, but the result is expected to pave the way for increased funding and sponsorship. Earlier, at the Labour Party conference in Blackpool, the pressure was mounting on MCC members when Culture Secretary Chris Smith urged the MCC to listen to his message and vote "at long last" to admit women.
"Their exclusion has demeaned cricket for too long," he said.
The former England women's cricket captain, Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, shrugged off the possibility that the committee might not secure the two-thirds majority and called for the resignation of those who supported the ban.
The first attempt to breach the men-only barriers at the MCC was made in 1991, when Sir Tim Rice and the late cricket journalist Brian Johnston proposed Heyhoe-Flint for membership, precipitating a vote in which 67% opposed female membership.
Heyhoe-Flint said last night she would immediately renew her application. "Of course I will be applying for full membership - in fact, my application form may well still be in there."
MCC president Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie promised there will "certainly be female members by the Millennium" after the vote.
"I am absolutely delighted. It is great news for cricket and the club," he said. "From a personal point of view it gives my presidency a lift two days before I stand down from office."
Speakers opposed to the move to admit women accused the committee of "looking like propagandists in a communist state".
Former Harrow schoolboy Robert Titchener-Barratt said: "Last time the committee botched it up in a big way. Now they are trying to rush through this vote, costing time and money."