The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said that transwomen will be banned from participating in elite women’s cricket in the country from next year.
No player who has gone through male puberty will be allowed to participate in the top two rungs of the sport in England. However, transwomen will still be allowed to play in recreational and amateur cricket.
This comes in the wake of the International Cricket Council banning transwomen from women’s international cricket last year.
In a statement, the ECB said: “Having considered wide-ranging views gathered during the consultation, as well as in consultations conducted during 2023, and the relevant science and medical evidence, the ECB has decided that from 2025 it will adopt the same approach as the ICC for women’s professional domestic cricket. This provides consistency, given that a primary purpose of the top end of the domestic structure is to produce international players.”
However, Fiona McAnena, of lobby group Sex Matters, said: “The ECB’s decision to include men who identify as women in amateur female competition is a disastrous, two-tier policy that makes no sense. Anyone who has ever played cricket knows that it’s neither fair nor safe for women to face male bowlers and batsmen, yet that is what most amateur female cricketers will have to do if men are included in women’s competition. And they will have no grounds to object.
“The message to women and girls from ECB seems to be that unless you’re a top player, you don’t get fair play. This policy will put promising girls and women off the game before they ever have a chance to progress to elite level, with catastrophic effects on the pipeline of player development. The ECB claims to support the women’s game but its grudging and partial acceptance of the International Cricket Council’s policy to protect the female category signals that male feelings come first.”