Istafa Ali
Under the new rules, approved by the ICC board on Tuesday, any player who has transitioned from male to female and has been through any form of male puberty will not be allowed to participate in women’s international cricket, regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken.
Danielle McGahey became the first-ever transgender player in women’s international cricket earlier this year. But now, with the new rule change in the ICC, transgender players won’t be able to participate in any professional and official cricket match.
Danielle McGahey is basically from Australia, but she moved to Canada in 2020. There she went through medical surgery, transforming herself into a female from a male. The transgender played for the Canada national team in the Americas region in T20 World Cup qualifying matches. She played six matches where she scored 118 runs at an average of 19.66 runs, with a strike rate of 95.93.
Brazil’s women’s captain, Roberta Morreta Avery, against whose side McGahey played two T20Is and registered her best of 48, respected the ICC’s decision but called its timing “unfortunate”.
According to Avery, “it appears that the ICC made this decision in good faith and with the benefit of the most recent scientific advice.” “That said, the timing of the decision is really unfortunate.”
The ICC finalized the new policy following a nine-month consultation process with the sport’s stakeholders. “It is based on the following principles (in order of priority): protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness, and inclusion,” the board stated in a release. “The regulations will be reviewed within two years.”
