Transgender Canadian international cricketer

@Morty12 no ‘máxine’ Blythe played for Kent though now seems to be no longer there

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/12123/11870243/maxine-blythin-transgender-cricketer-reveals-birth-condition

it's kind of a tradition in men's international cricket than many of the players representing the lesser nations (I include England within this) won't, strictly speaking, be of that nationality, not Danielle takes that tradition to the next level by representing Canada ladies despite being neither Canadian nor a lady, rather a big strapping Aussie bloke.

So women already have fewer opportunities to play sports on international teams, but let's just hand a slot over to a bloke.

Fuck sake. I was done with shit some years ago. I am now entering a phase of unproductive incoherent rage.

Gah, I didn’t get to my post in time to edit the autocorrect. It should have read ‘amusingly/enragingly’ - not ‘engagingly’. There nothing engaging about a woman being kept out of her sport by a cheater.

A man on a women's team. Just wrong.

Ah, that's probably because everyone is cool with it. None of the women mind. Not one. And we know that for an absolute fact because McGahey tells us:

"McGahey said she had not encountered any animosity from either team-mates or opponents since she started playing women's cricket.
"I can't recall a single negative experience, particularly on the field or off the field with my team. Everyone has been incredibly supportive," McGahey said."

The feelings of the woman who now will not represent her country because of this male muscling in on the team are presumably not recorded or recalled. As are the real feelings of the other women, probably.

I have just read the article in the Telegraph and came on here to post. Is this the first time a TW has got into a women's side?
Good photo in The Telegraph

the highest average strike rate in men's international one day cricket is 130- something. so, yeah, it sounds like this fella is really making hay.

www.espncricinfo.com/records/highest-career-strike-rate-282919

strike rate 184? I think that means he scores 1.84 runs per ball faced? for reference that makes him more dominant than the current fastest scorer in the men's ipl, whose strike rate of 174 is here described as "staggering".

https://www.mykhel.com/cricket/highest-strike-rate-in-ipl-rs106/

The ICC really needs to come up to speed with so many other sports and ban trans ‘women’ from women’s teams.
Last week I went to the cricket Hundred at Headingley and saw first the women’s match then immediately following it the men’s match. They are different matches, both entertaining, but the men run faster, field faster and hit the ball harder (more boundaries and 4s scored) than the women. The Hundred format is the worst kind of cricket the ICC could have allowed trans ‘women’ to play in the the women’s team. It’s more athletic than, say, test matches, so all the physical advantages men have really come to the fore.
This cricketer is a cheating man.
And he has taken a place on the team which should have gone to a woman.
Canada seems to be captured, am very sad about that.

Exactly my thought too, but I’m quite surprised there was one showing McGahey with women, even scrunched down. There was a great Twitter thread a while ago about the poor lonely athletes who just want to compete, very amusingly/engagingly illustrated with photos of them alone, gazing mournfully into the distance. The woman who compiled it had found some brilliant shots and her commentary was spot on.

Yes I noticed that too.

I would love to see McGahey's figures for his last year in Men's cricket. After all, if trans women obtain no competitive advantage over us biological types from having gone through male puberty, then the stats should be broadly similar, no....?

a clap for Timothy Abraham for the balanced writing including data. May women’s sport become ever more fair and safe for women.

My family member is a cricket coach for a county men's team. He also coaches younger mixed teams. He said there is no way an adult male should be playing with females, ever - it's an extremely unfair advantage for all the usual reasons - strength, speed etc.

advantage sorry. Opposing teams will have a disadvantage.

I’m glad the article is balanced and not the gushing mindless celebration we would have got from the bbc a few years ago. But just seeing that smug photo makes me so angry. I’m so sick of this. A woman has missed out on a place in the team. Other women have to play alongside this male and be put under the stress of joining in the performance that it’s all fine, even if it makes them uncomfortable or scared. And yet more women have to play opposite this team who now have an unfair disadvantage. Especially in cricket! Running speed and the strength to hit a 6 are going to feature in this person’s rapid rise and success.

The fact that this isn’t happening the other way round - females taking top places in male sports by just announcing they’re men - lays the unfairness out for all to see. It’s the most blatant unfairness you can imagine and it’s obviously sex-based. I just can’t get my head around how anyone can think it’s OK. 😡

In the video of the playing season, it's clear that mcgahey is absolutely huge

I watched quite a few women's cricket games over the summer, and marvelled at their skill and athleticism. Thought there was no way any of that transgender shit would muscle in on cricket... and here we are. 😡

I bet the poor woman whose place on the team this man took isn't happy. The rest of the team should worry too, seeing as all it takes is a signature and a few injections to turn a man into a woman. 🙄

My daughter is a junior county cricketer. She plays with girls who are amazing and on pathways to being professionals in events like the 100. If the ICC doesn't step up careers of girls will be blighted.

Failed at athletics & swimming so has picked cricket? The amount of skill required to play cricket at top level is immense unless you can out power others.

This is a disgrace and it makes me really sad.

Oh okay i know nothing about cricket.

While it's a really balanced article on the whole, I really loathe the focus on how accepting women are and how they don't treat mcgahey any differently to anyone else.

So much focus on women being kind. And pretending we don't notice that men who say they are women are actually men.

That team picture at the end of the BBC article. The male front and centre (duh) and all hunkered down so as to be lower than the women on the front row.

McGahey is primarily a batsman, rather than a bowler (think the article says they can be a spin bowler, so speed of the ball is much less of an issue).

Why is the person in the picture using a plank to hit the ball? Have cricket bats changed?

Large tall players need a bigger, heavier long handled bat than the average sized woman.

Avery felt there were "no issues" in terms of safety for the fielding team with McGahey's batting, and the player's part-time off-spin bowling is unlikely to be called upon by Canada captain Divya Saxena.
Avery did acknowledge it could be more difficult if a trans woman who had been through male puberty bowled significantly faster than typical speeds in women's cricket.

So basically McGahey isn't very good so it's okay to join a women's team.

Why is the person in the picture using a plank to hit the ball? Have cricket bats changed?

It certainly is a very revealing picture.
I didn't know the women's game used a smaller field as well as a lighter ball but in that case I think spectators would be well advised to stay well back when the person is batting.