not really. It’s an external cladding and in our case, because we have such good insulation on the inside as a sandwich between the OSB on the outside and the plasterboard on the inside giving 200mm insulation we have a gap between the battens fixed to the OSB and the boards which provides an air gap to prevent condensation. There is a grill which the bottom cladding piece is attached which serves two purposes - it “kicks out” the bottom piece marginally for weather protection and prevents rodents from scurrying up the gap.
The external insulation panels you refer to are a different option to consider (as we did) but then you would probably need to finish it off with something like crépi to provide an even and more attractive surface - can be quite expensive.
The Marley fibre cement boards are themselves insulative and rot proof and the air gap also assists with the insulation capability.
Just to add, you can get natural wood cladding for the exterior of buildings but these do require regular maintenance and whilst might be initially cheaper, their whole life cost may be more expensive.