Trans women banned from playing international women’s cricket by ICC

Trans cricket players who have been through male puberty will no longer be able to play at an international level in the women’s game, it has been announced. 

The International Cricket Council has declared this will be implemented “regardless of any surgery or treatment taken”.

Canada’s Danielle McGahey became the first transgender cricket to play in an official international match back in September. 

She featured in the Women’s T20 fixture against Brazil after fulfilling of the ICC’s eligibility criteria. 

“The changes to the gender eligibility regulations resulted from an extensive consultation process” – ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice

However, following a nine-month consultation process with the sport’s stakeholders, new gender regulations have been announced.

The ICC have remarked the new policy is “based on the following principles (in order of priority), protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion. Any male to female participants who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to participate in the international women’s game regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken.”

The regulations will be reviewed within two years. 

“The changes to the gender eligibility regulations resulted from an extensive consultation process and is founded in science and aligned with the core principles developed during the review,” said ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice.

“Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players.”

An English Cricket Board (ECB) spokesperson told ITV: “We continue to review our transgender policy, considering inclusivity, safety and fairness. We will consider these new ICC regulations as part of this work.”

It’s the latest sport to put restrictions on trans athletes, following similar moves in the world of cycling and swimming. 

“We continue to review our transgender policy, considering inclusivity, safety and fairness” – ECB spokesperson

The cycling’s world governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), banned trans women from competing in female events in July.

British Cycling announced a similar ban on transgender women from competitive female races.

Trans women, trans men, non-binary individuals, and those whose sex was assigned male at birth are able to compete in an ‘Open’ category.

Meanwhile, trans athletes were effectively banned from swimming competitions by FINA, the sport’s world governing body.

Last month, World Aquatics confirmed the new ‘open’ category set-up for trans swimmers had been cancelled at the Swimming World Cup. This was due to the fact no one signed up for it.