Transgender players who have been through male puberty will be banned from competing in women’s international cricket under new regulations confirmed on Tuesday.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has introduced fresh gender eligibility rules following a nine-month review, bringing it into line with other sports like athletics, cycling and swimming, which have all banned transgender athletes in elite women’s competition.
An ICC statement said: “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, and this means 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.”
In September, Canada’s Danielle McGahey became the first transgender athlete to play in an official international cricket match when representing her country in a T20 against Brazil.
The ICC’s previous policy, which allowed trans women to compete in international cricket so long as they displayed consistent testosterone levels below a set limit, had been criticised by women’s rights groups, including the Women’s Rights Network, who called it “unfair and unsafe”.
“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,” ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said.
“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.”
The new rules apply only to international cricket, with national boards left to set their own rules regarding domestic competition.
An ECB spokesperson said: "We continue to review our transgender policy, considering inclusivity, safety and fairness, and will consider these new ICC regulations as part of this work."
The new regulations were ratified at an ICC Board meeting on Tuesday, where Sri Lanka Cricket’s suspension over government interference in its affairs was also confirmed.
Sri Lanka will be allowed to continue to compete in both tournaments and bilateral series but the country’s board has been stripped of the right to host next year’s Men’s Under-19 World Cup, which will instead now go to South Africa.
Elsewhere, the use of a stop-clock will be trialled in men’s international white-ball cricket from next month in a bid to tackle slow over-rates.
Teams will be allowed only 60 seconds from the end of one over to start the next, with three violations in the same innings leading to a five-run penalty.
