Transgender Women Not Allowed To Take Part In England's Women's Cricket

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will not allow transgender women to play in ECB's women’s matches, starting from May 3 onwards, it revealed in a statement issued on May 2.

"The ECB is today announcing a change to its regulations regarding eligibility for transgender players in women’s and girls’ cricket. This is based on the updated legal position following the recent Supreme Court ruling,” the board said in a statement uploaded on its website. 

The ECB's decision follows England’s Football Association (FA) being the first sports body to bring in regulations barring transgender women from competing with biologically-born women.

The FA’s and ECB’s announcements came after the Supreme Court of England termed biologically born women as the only legal women in the country in a ruling on April 16, earlier this year. 

“In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the terms "woman" and "sex" in the 2010 Equality Act 'refer to a biological woman and biological sex'. This means, for instance, that transgender women, who are biologically male but identify as women, can be excluded from women-only spaces,” BCC wrote in its report. 

“With immediate effect, only those whose biological sex is female will be eligible to play in women’s cricket and girls’ cricket matches. Transgender women and girls can continue playing in open and mixed cricket,” the ECB clarified.