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Transgender females will not be able to play in competitive women’s and girl’s cricket in England and Wales after a change of policy from the sport’s governing body.
Trans women have been banned from the top two tiers of elite women’s cricket since the start of this year, but had been permitted to compete in the women’s game up to and including tier three of the domestic game and throughout recreational cricket.
However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has now extended its policy in light of a UK Supreme Court ruling handed down last month. The change was officially approved at a board meeting on Friday.
The ECB said in a statement: “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 English and Scottish football associations announced new policies banning trans women from female competition on Thursday.
On April 16 the UK Supreme Court issued clarification regarding terms used in the 2010 Equality Act. Within that clarification, it said that Section 195 of the Act, which permits the lawful exclusion of athletes from gender-affected sports based on sex, was “plainly predicated on biological sex”.
Pool was the first UK sport to change policy following the ruling. England Netball announced a new policy on Thursday but has stressed those changes at had nothing to do with the Supreme
English (US) ·