BLYTHIN’S AWARD JUST ISN’T CRICKET

kENT Women’s cricketer of the year for 2019 is Maxine Blythin, a transgender athlete who identifies as female. This recognition has not been universally well-received, prompting kent captain Tammy Beaumont to spring to her defence. ‘As far as I’m aware there’s no conclusive proof of any advantages of being a trans woman in cricket,’ she tweeted. ‘I’m proud to call her my team-mate and my friend.’ And no doubt she is. kent Women won the county championship this year and sports people tend to be quite single-minded about outcomes. Blythin is clearly an asset to the team while being no threat to Beaumont’s place in it. The cricketer whose berth she has taken may feel differently. The absence of advantage, however, is a harder sell. Blythin (left) scored 165 runs for kent in Division one at a rate of 33, placing her ninth in the league’s averages. She scored 175 for the county in six T20 matches at an average of 29.17, also placing ninth overall. For her club, St lawrence and Highland Court, she has an astonishing record: 10 innings, 892 runs, at an average of 127.43. Yet she also plays men’s cricket and at Chesham Blythin is a second XI player, scoring 93 runs in nine innings at an average of 11.63. of second XI players featuring in seven innings or more in 2019, Blythin is 11th in the club averages. That’s quite the difference. Inside the top 10 in the women’s county championship, outside the top 10 in Chesham’s men’s second XI. So while there may be no conclusive proof of advantage, because that would require an exacting statistical study over many years, in Blythin’s case something seems to be working for her in the women’s game that isn’t in men’s cricket. There is a wider debate around inclusion and fairness, obviously, and this is a sensitive and complex issue. But let’s not pretend.