Mick Hartley

Gender trouble on the pitch:

Six first-class counties are demanding urgent answers from the England and Wales Cricket Board as to why a middle-aged player who transitioned from a man to a woman is being allowed to compete against girls as young as 12.

Telegraph Sport has seen multiple letters from coaches and parents whose daughters have faced the player, whose case has not previously appeared in the media, in club cricket matches. All express alarm at the safety implications of an adult carrying the residual physical advantages of male puberty playing in the same league as girls. One letter from a coach claims the player “hits the ball harder than any other I have seen in the league”.

It is understood that the player has previously caused injuries, although inadvertently, including one to an umpire and another to an opponent at county trials who was left unable to play for months. Some parents, disturbed at the significant inequalities of power between young girls and an adult who was born male, have threatened to remove their daughters from their league in response. One characterised the situation as “unacceptable, uncomfortable and dangerous”.

A mother of one girl in an Under-13 county squad acknowledged she had genuine worries about her daughter’s safety, arguing it was “inappropriate” for an adult with the physiological benefits of male puberty to be included in the same league. Another parent of a 12-year-old girl described fears that she and her team-mates would “give up on cricket, because they become so frightened about having to face bowling and fielding of that strength and force. Many girls at this age are only just starting hard-ball cricket, and one incident is enough to turn them off the game.”…

The worries raised by the case have become so acute that a group of six first-class counties met the ECB last week to insist on immediate clarification of the governing body’s transgender policy. All argue that they have been left without any clear guidance on the issue of girls’ physical safety.

As it stands, the ECB’s rules around transgender players in recreational cricket are among the most liberal in sport, decreeing that “trans women may compete in any female-only competition, league or match and should be accepted in the gender in which they present.” The six counties argue that this lack of protection of the female category leaves them without any clear guidance on either the issue of girls’ physical safety or that of bathroom access.

There is also deep unease about the situation of a biological male identifying as female sharing toilet facilities at cricket clubhouses with teenage girls. “If I have a 13-year-old girl who needs to change because she has just started her period, she could well be sharing a confined space with a man who, under ECB policy, has decided they are now female,” a source said. “I have real concerns about that.”

Asked about the latest controversy, the ECB responded that its transgender policy was under review. “Transgender participation is a complex area,” a spokesperson said.

No it's not. Always this pathetic prevarication – "ooh it's such a complex business…". It's not complex at all. People should play according to their biological sex. If trans people want to set up a category of their own, well, fine. But no biological males should be playing in women's sport. It's as simple as that.

But there is a view among the counties that the ECB is obfuscating and prevaricating on the subject. One county said that it had been pressing for concrete changes to the transgender policy for three years, only to be referred after last week’s meeting to literature from Stonewall, the LGBT charity advising organisations on pronouns and gender-neutral spaces.

Oh dear.