Cricket Scotland chairman Anjan Luthra has resigned following criticism of the organisation’s handling of racism | Cricket News

Cricket Scotland chairman Anjan Luthra has resigned after less than six months in the role.

Luthra confirmed his resignation on Twitter on Friday morning, saying: “It’s time the Scottish cricket community heard the truth”.

The post also included a picture of Luthra’s resignation letter, in which the former chairman said: “I fundamentally disagree with the way Sportscotland runs sport.

“I believe their primary objective is to meet the demands of a lobby group and a handful of individuals associated with them – even if it means the wider sport and community are negatively affected.”

A spokesman for funder Sportscotland said: “This has been an exceptionally challenging time for all Scottish cricketers and we would like to thank Anjan Luthra for her contribution as chairman.

“We are taking immediate action to provide Cricket Scotland with more leadership and governance.”

Luthra was appointed in October and tasked with rebuilding the organisation’s reputation after it was found to be institutionally racist in an independent review published last July.

Cricket Scotland has come under renewed scrutiny after four members of its newly formed Racism and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) advisory group resigned earlier this week over the organisation’s crackdown on racism.

Luthra had given a six-month update last week, saying the governing body had made progress, and those comments were criticized by anti-racism group Running Out Racism.

It branded Luthra’s claims as “substantial nonsense” and said Cricket Scotland’s update was “tone deaf” and “arrogant”.

On Friday, it issued another statement criticizing Luthra as “not the right person to lead the sport” and “lack of progress”.

Running Out Racism said: “We are disappointed that the chairman has felt the need to step down. We have been trying to open a dialogue about the poor communication two weeks ago with others outside of cricket to help intervene and convince the chairman to change his approach. Many have tried internally to help with that but it has fallen on deaf ears. to the ears.

“People make mistakes, but blaming others rather than owning them in any way is disappointing. There is no mention or acknowledgment of the significant lack of progress made or the disparities that have emerged as a result – many of which have no connection to the campaign, including the current international.

“But it also shows that he is probably not the right person to lead our sport going forward. The key to resolving this situation is to rebuild trust and have a strong hearing. Not just extra PR messages that don’t address the full truth of the situations. This is just one example of trying to write narrative again and ignore the facts.

“There are numerous inaccuracies in his statement. Addressing them point by point in public is likely to inflame the situation. In the name of rebuilding the sport, we aim to address them directly with key people in the sport and at Sportscotland. .”

Sadiq: Cricket Scotland let us down

Scotland’s Abtaha Maqsood, Running Out Racism’s Raza Sadiq, businessman Imran Khan and academic Khadija Mohammed resigned from their positions on the anti-racism and EDI advisory group.

Talking Sky Sports newsRaza Sadiq spoke about what influenced his decision to quit.

“We don’t want cricket to fail. That’s why we were very keen [to be involved in the process]”, Sadiq said. “They failed us.

“Cricket Scotland expected us to conform to their rhetoric rather than critically question their plan of action.

“The six-month review was basically the last straw for me to resign – because it wasn’t based on the facts.”

He added: “Once an institution has been declared institutionally racist, you have a clean slate to start with.

“They haven’t understood how racism manifested itself. They weren’t looking for genuine engagement.

“That’s why – if they don’t learn, don’t listen – they’re not fit for purpose.”

Last July, Sky Sports news revealed a damning review that found Cricket Scotland failed almost every test of institutional racism.

Cricket Scotland’s entire board resigned ahead of the publication of an independent report which found 448 incidents of racism in the sport.