Transgender cricketer Danielle McGahey nominates for WBBL draft to send a message

Transgender cricketer Danielle McGahey has nominated for next weekend’s Women’s Big Bash League draft, and revealed the extreme personal toll of cricket’s gender eligibility storm.

Transgender cricketer Danielle McGahey has nominated for next weekend’s Women’s Big Bash League draft in a bid to send a message that “cricket is still a safe space for queer and transgender people”, and revealed the extreme personal toll of cricket’s gender eligibility storm.

Brisbane-born McGahey, 30, made history last year when she became the first transgender person to play women’s international cricket, representing Canada in six Twenty20 World Cup qualifiers in Los Angeles.

However, just months after her international career began, it ended abruptly when the ICC changed its regulations to prohibition people who had gone through any form of male puberty from playing in a women’s international.

McGahey was born male and began transitioning medically in 2021.

Yet Cricket Australia did not change its policies to reflect those of the ICC, meaning that transgender women remain eligible to play in senior women’s domestic competitions, including the flagship WBBL.

Danielle McGahey in action for Canada.

Primarily a batter, McGahey averaged 19.66 at a strike rate of 95.93 in her six full internationals.

Though realistically a long shot to be selected for the WBBL, which has long been widely viewed as the leading franchise competition in women’s cricket, McGahey’s decision to put her name forward among almost 600 players across the men’s and women’s overseas player drafts was made with a bigger goal in mind.

“With the ICC decision to ban trans women from international level, it was really interesting to see the response of a lot of franchise leagues,” McGahey said from Brazil, where she lives with her wife Dudah, who is also a cricketer.

“Australia was one of them that came out and said, ‘No, we believe that trans women should be playing in women’s cricket and we would welcome a trans woman in the WBBL’.

“At that stage, did I think about nominating? No, not really. Last year was a rollercoaster of emotions, personal attacks and I spent a lot of time just kind of recovering.

“Then I really delved back into cricket this year with Cricket Brazil and kind of got to the point where I was like, ‘You know what, if Cricket Australia is cool with it, then I want to make sure that people know that cricket is still a safe space for queer and transgender people’.

“And whether or not I get selected from my nomination is not really relevant for the bigger picture.

“It’s more about seeing that cricket still is a safe space and people should be able to enjoy cricket, no matter where they come from, who they are, anything like that.”

McGahey outlined the heavy personal toll from the events last year.

“When I was playing in Los Angeles, there was self-harm, there were a lot of dangerous thoughts going on because of the commentary and the attention and everything that I was getting.

“It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, she’s making her debut’. It was hurtful and harmful and intentional.

“And after September, I took a few months off and basically just isolated in Canada for a little bit.

“Thankfully, I have my wonderful wife who supported me through everything.

“And honestly, without her I wouldn’t be where I am today in terms of mentally being able to put my name back in the ring because it’s kind of what I’m doing with my nomination.

“I’m saying that I haven’t gone away, I’m still playing and I still want to play it at the highest level.”

Although CA has taken a different view than the ICC on the issue, a CA spokesperson confirmed to CODE Sports the WBBL does have a policy in place to protect all players involved in the game.

“Australian Cricket continues to have its own policy in place for domestic cricket which establishes a framework for the inclusion of Transgender and Gender Diverse players balancing considerations such as inclusion and fairness and the wellbeing and safety of athletes,” a CA spokesperson said.

“Our code and policies are the subject of regular review including our Transgender and Gender Diverse Players Policy.”

McGahey said she had tried to contact the ICC to discuss the issue but had not heard back.

“I’ve sent, I think, four emails to the ICC lawyer who I was in contact with last year,” McGahey said. “She hasn’t responded at all this year.

“I’m curious to see what they will do ahead of the LA 2028 Olympics, as international Olympic rules allow transgender women to compete in women’s events.

“I’ve had a lot, a lot of trans people who play cricket reach out to me. It’s been really heartwarming but also kind of devastating.

McGahey said she found the controversy surrounding Algerian boxer Imane Khelif’s recent Olympic participation “incredibly hurtful”.

“It was incredibly disappointing because she needed to delve into the history of herself to prove to people that she wasn’t who they were saying she was,’’ she said.

“It was pretty disgusting.”

Originally published as Transgender cricketer Danielle McGahey nominates for WBBL draft to send a message