“Cricketers Who Have Experienced Male Puberty…”: ICC’s Big Rule Change On Gender Eligibility

In a major policy decision, the ICC on Tuesday banned cricketers who were through any form of male puberty from competing in the women’s international game regardless of whether or not they underwent gender reassignment surgery or treatment. The ICC said they were making the decision to protect the integrity of the women’s international game and the safety of the players. In a statement, the ICC said, “The ICC Board approved new gender eligibility regulations for the international game following a nine-month consultation process with the sport’s stakeholders. “The new policy is based on the following principles (in order of priority), protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion, and this means that any Male to Female participants who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to participate in the international women’s game regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment. the treatment they might have had.” Gender reassignment and treatment has been a hot topic of debate in world athletics for years.

With the ICC finalizing rules on gender eligibility for women’s international cricket, the issue at domestic level was left in the hands of the board members.

“The review, which was led by the ICC Medical Advisory Committee chaired by Dr Peter Harcourt, relates to gender eligibility for women’s international cricket only, although gender eligibility at domestic level is a matter for each individual Board, which may have an impact on a local basis. The regulations will be reviewed within two years,” the ICC said.

ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said the world governing body reached the decision after “extensive consultation”.

“The changes to the gender eligibility regulations have resulted from an extensive consultation process and are based on science and aligned with the core principles developed during the review.

“Inclusivity is extremely important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the women’s international game and the safety of the players,” Allardice said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executives Committee (CEC) has endorsed a plan to accelerate the development of women match officials, including equal day’s pay for ICC umpires across men’s and women’s cricket, and ensure that there is one neutral umpire in each ICC Women’s Championship. series from January next year.