Girls are quitting cricket and being put at risk by the governing body’s refusal to ban transgender women from amateur female leagues, the mother of a young player has claimed.
The English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) banned trans women – who are biologically male – from female professional competitions last October but allowed them to continue at grassroots level.
But the concerned mother, who wants to remain anonymous, has implored them to extend the ban to amateur cricket.
In an impassioned letter, she described girls being reduced to tears, demoralised and dropping out of matches after being forced to play against boys identifying as female.
She detailed how her ten-year-old daughter played at an under 13 event last summer where two boys who identified as female were in the opposing team.
She claims one 12-year-old ‘cried in the trees’ because their presence ‘scared her, intimidated her and made her feel uncomfortable and worthless’.
This same girl has said she does not want to play if she has to compete against biological males, with others considering following suit, the parent alleged.
In a separate letter to SEEN Sport, a campaign group to keep female sports single sex, she said the male-born players were still ‘dressed as boys’ and that one parent accused another of causing humiliation by shouting ‘good catch, lad’ when a ‘trans’ player caught the ball.
The English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) banned transgender women from female professional competitions last October but allowed them to continue at grassroots level
The concerned mother, who wants to remain anonymous, has implored them to extend the ban to amateur cricket. Pictured: Rainbow Laces colours on the stumps at Headingley in 2023
She also railed against ECB guidance that trans people should have access to changing rooms, showers and toilets corresponding to the gender they identify as.
She wrote: ‘I encourage every female who receives this letter to face an over from a very big man with a powerful bowl – and then imagine being a child and facing something equivalent; someone bigger, stronger, faster and more powerful than you.’
The ECB decision to ban anyone who has ‘undergone male puberty’ from elite women’s domestic cricket from 2025 followed the International Cricket Council’s lead.
The body did not extend its ban to amateur teams as it relied on a ‘disparity policy’, where officials should take steps such as ‘requesting that a stronger player exercise caution’ if they are concerned.
Su Wong at SEEN Sport said: ‘The ECB have allowed fairness for around 300 professionals, but not for 33,000 grassroots female players.’
The ECB said: ‘We are not aware of any other complaints raised by parents on the days in question and we have not been presented with evidence of any safety, disparity or safeguarding issues.’
