THE MAN who always knows the score, Matthew Engel, editor of cricket bible Wisden, has attacked his sport because of its primitive views on women. Engel says that the game is not so popular that it can afford to offend half the population and that old fashioned attitudes still dominate.

"We have institutionalised sexist attitudes in cricket and that is not going to change," he said this week.

Engel's attack comes only a month after the MCC took the historic decision to accept women into its membership. But according to him (and at at least half the population of Britain and Ireland), their delay has been immensely damaging for the game.

"The opposition was routed on the quality of their argument - they had none. They simply had no case and to keep fighting for so long spoke volumes to a whole section of society."

But Engel remains more optimistic than most given the MCC's stance and a recent case of assault on his then girlfriend which English cricketer Geoff Boycott lost in a French court.

"Admitting women to the MCC was an absolute imperative and we now have to start to move forward. We must insure women are made welcome as spectators and players," Engel said.