Anjan Luthra resigns as Cricket Scotland chair

Luthra was only appointed in October, following the conclusion of an independent review last July that found the organisation to be institutionally racist

Cricket Scotland chair Anjan Luthra has resigned from his post after less than six months in the role.

His departure, which he confirmed in a Twitter post featuring a lengthy statement, follows a series of resignations earlier in the week from Cricket Scotland's anti-racism, diversity and inclusion advisory group.

Four members resigned – including Scotland women's international Abtaha Maqsood – in protest against a perceived lack of progress in tackling racism, after Luthra had issued a six-month update last week in which he suggested that "significant" advances were being made – a claim disputed by anti-racism group Running Out Racism.

Luthra was only appointed in October, following the conclusion of an independent review last July that found the organisation to be institutionally racist.

Cricket Scotland met his resignation with a short statement on their website, thanking "Anjan for his hard work and input during his time as chair".

In his own statement, Luthra expressed his fundamental disagreement with sportscotland's running of the sport.

^{Majid Haq is among those who have spoken out against a lack of progress by Cricket Scotland (Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)}

"I believe their priority is to meet the demands of a lobby group and a handful of individuals associated with them – even if that means the wider sport and community will be negatively impacted," he wrote.

He added: "Recent events have made it clear to me that sportscotland and the lobby group have little desire to holistically rebuild and improve Cricket Scotland. I am not prepared to stand by this. It is my professional opinion that the lobby group will not be satisfied unless all financial and human resources are dedicated to tackling the findings from Changing The Boundaries. If this happens, Cricket Scotland will likely cease to exist and the wider cricketing community will gravely suffer."

Scottish cricket was left reeling last year by the publication of a report into institutional racism. It was revealed in late October that 22 allegations of racism made as part of the independent inquiry were being formally investigated further.

That inquiry, Changing the Boundaries, followed allegations made by former Scotland internationals Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh. On the eve of its publication in July, the board of the national governing body resigned en masse, describing its findings as "a watershed moment for Scottish sport and society" in a joint letter of resignation.

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