Former Scottish Player And Businessman Anjan Luthra Named Head Of Scotland Cricket

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The new chair of Cricket Scotland, Anjan Luthra, said anger at reading a report into racism in the organization motivated him to get involved in turning the sport around in Scotland.

An independent review published in July found 448 examples of institutional racism and prompted resignations en masse from the Cricket Scotland board.

Luthra played cricket for Scotland at the youth level and now runs a London-based global media business after qualifying as a chartered account.

"I have arrived in a very problematic, complicated situation and there are some deep problems, but I am very optimistic about the future and ready to rebuild the organisation," Luthra told Sky Sports.

"Why I got involved was driven and fuelled by my anger, deep upset and frustration about what I was hearing and reading from the report.

"The why for me comes from an underlying passion to change the course of this organisation and make a level playing field for everyone playing cricket in Scotland."

An investigation was commissioned by sportscotland, the national funding body, last year after Scotland's all-time leading wicket-taker Majid Haq and former teammate Qasim Sheikh said they had suffered racist abuse.

As part of the review an anonymous survey was carried out, with 62 percent of those who responded saying they had experienced, witnessed or had received reports of incidents of racism, inequalities or discrimination.

Allegations include racial abuse, use of inappropriate language, favouritism towards white children from public schools and a lack of a transparent selection process.

"It's one of the first days I have been quite positive about Scottish cricket for a long, long time," said Haq, who is a former teammate of Luthra.

"I hope he can carry the hope forward over the next couple of years and I'm pretty confident he can."

As a result of the investigation, Cricket Scotland has been placed into special measures until at least October 2023, with sportscotland effectively taking control of the organisation.