Transgender women have been blocked from taking part in all levels of women’s cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board has declared.
The sporting body said in its updated transgender regulations that ‘only those whose biological sex is female’ would be able to take part in cricket.
Trans women will be barred from competing in the sport with immediate effect.
However the ECB has stated trans women and girls can continue to participate in the sport when playing in open and mixed categories, the BBC reports.
The change in rules comes shortly after the UK Supreme Court ruled the legal definition of women was based on biological sex.
In a statement, the ECB said: ‘Our regulations for recreational cricket have always aimed at ensuring that cricket remains as inclusive a sport as possible,’
‘These included measures to manage disparities, irrespective of someone’s gender, and safeguard the enjoyment of all players.
‘However, given the new advice received about the impact of the Supreme Court ruling, we believe the changes announced today are necessary.’
Transgender women have been blocked from taking part in all levels of women’s cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board has declared
The sporting body also said that discrimination had ‘no place’ in the sport, as they vowed to make sure cricket is ‘played in a spirit of respect and inclusivity’.
Their 2024 transgender policy regulations stated that any individual who had gone through male puberty could not participate in the top two tiers of the women’s sport.
In November 2023 the International Cricket Council also declared transgender women who had experience male puberty were banned from taking part in international women’s matches.
As such, the previous policy permitted transgender women to take part in the third tier of the game on British soil.
On April 19, five Supreme Court justices unanimously decided that ‘the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act refer to a ‘biological woman and biological sex’.
In an 88-page ruling, the justices said: ‘The definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.’
The decision could have far-reaching implications on how sex-based rights apply, including how women-only spaces are allowed to operate.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch praised the ruling as a ‘victory’ for women and said it meant the ‘era of Keir Starmer telling us women can have penises has come to an end’.
The judgement marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle between the Scottish government and a women’s group over the definition of a ‘woman’ in Scottish legislation mandating 50 per cent female representation on public boards.
The case centred on whether somebody with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be treated as a woman under the 2010 Equality Act.
The Scottish government argued that such people are entitled to sex-based protections, while campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) claimed they only apply to people that are born female.
The action sought to overturn a decision by the Scottish courts in 2023 which found that treating someone with a GRC as a woman under the Equality Act was lawful. The outcome will have implications in England, Scotland and Wales.
MailOnline has approached the England and Wales Cricket Board for comment.
This is a breaking news story, Updates to follow.
