Transgender women have been banned from international women’s cricket, it has been announced.

The International Cricket Council said its “priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players”.

It also said the new policy was based on fairness and inclusion.

It means any male-to-female participants who have been through any form of male puberty will not be eligible to take part in the international women’s game regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken.

The new gender eligibility regulations were formed after a nine-month consultation, with the final decision taken by the ICC board, which features England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Richard Thompson.

The regulations will be reviewed within two years.

ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said: “The changes to the gender eligibility regulations resulted from an extensive consultation process and is founded in science and aligned with the core principles developed during the review.

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

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The rules only relate to international women’s cricket with gender eligibility domestically left for each national cricket governing body to determine.

The current England and Wales Cricket Board position is that transgender women “should be accepted in the gender with which they identify”.

But there is a “disparity policy” which can be applied when safety concerns are raised about a difference in speed, strength or skill between players.

The new international cricket policy reflects World Athletics’ decision in March to bar competitors who have gone through male puberty from female world ranking events.

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