Cricket Scotland probe into racism called into question in statement row

He said the investigation's findings "fully exonerate me" and also made public a letter from Cricket Scotland's interim chief executive Pete Fitzboydon from January, informing him that the allegations against him were "unfounded" but requesting that he kept that information confidential to allow time for the complainers to be informed of the outcomes.

Cricket Scotland's subsequent "delay and prevarication" in going public, Mr Blain said, forced him to release his statement, five months after receiving the letter.

The investigating team has clarified its role had been to "make findings of fact" and not to pronounce guilt or innocence against any person.

The team insisted its role was to identify "learning lessons", of which, it said, there have been over 250 across 51 referrals so far. Cricket Scotland had been making some of these learnings public on its website, as and when batches of referrals have concluded over the last year.

Running Out Racism says it was told that Cricket Scotland has subsequently provided the group with a "contradictory account of the situation and Mr Blain's claims".

(Image: Gordon Terris)

It said: "It has been our policy for some time not to comment on investigation cases as they are in progress, and that was tested last week as we watched victims of racism vilified in the press, as the governing body did nothing in response.

"As far as we are concerned they are still in progress. As at that point, none of the multiple complainants we are supporting were told of the final outcomes of their complaint, and the reasons for the outcomes. As things stand, that is still the case for at least one complainant in the allegations made against Mr Blain."

The group say there are multiple complainants who have made allegations around his conduct beyond those two individuals.

"They all deserve an explanation as to what is going on from Cricket Scotland, and a clarification on whether or not Cricket Scotland has found their allegations to be false, as is being claimed," the said.

"To hear that Cricket Scotland had written to Mr Blain in January to say that the allegations were unfounded came as a huge shock, particularly as we were still awaiting news some months later.

"The definition of unfounded is without basis or untrue, and for that reason you can see why Mr Blain seems to think he was cleared.

"And yet that contradicts what we have been told. We have been told that he hasn't been 'cleared' but that in the multiple cases we were supporting that they could not take action as they didn't have the rules or jurisdiction to take them to a conduct panel."

The statement added: "Whilst they have been silent, the narrative has been allowed to build that the complainants made false allegations.

"They must now address this - they cannot say one thing to Mr Blain and another to the complainants.

(Image: SNS)

"Have they cleared Mr Blain, on the basis the allegations are 'unfounded', or are they unable to take the case further due to their own incompetence and poor structures at the time of the incidents?"

It followed claims - some made by all-time leading wicket-taker Majid Haq - of racism and discrimination.

Majid Haq represented Scotland on more than 200 occasions but did not play again after being sent home from the 2015 World Cup.

At the time he hinted he felt victimised on grounds of race.

His former Scotland teammate Qasim Sheikh also spoke openly about being racially abused.

In July 2022, a report commissioned by funding body SportScotland found that there was evidence of institutional racism in Scottish cricket.

The Changing the Boundaries review highlighted 448 examples.

It concluded  that the governance and leadership practices of Cricket Scotland to be institutionally racist.

This followed an in-depth consultation process with close to 1,000 direct engagements from a broad cross-section of all levels of the sport in Scotland.

Cricket Scotland's entire board resigned a day ahead of the report's publication.

Cricket Scotland has said of the referral cases 13 were examined for review, and five cases were "progressed to Cricket Scotland's disciplinary procedures".

"In the interests of clarity, Mr Blain’s cases were not progressed further due to a  combination of insufficient evidence, a lack of an applicable rule at the time of the  complaint, and/or a lack of jurisdictional remit or authority to take formal action.

"We have set out our position to Mr Blain and his representatives and are engaging  with them directly regarding his media comments.

"For two years, the governing body has worked in cooperation with all parties  involved to review and implement the necessary governance improvements. 

"We have made significant changes to our leadership and board structures to address  the recommendations: a commitment to creating a safer, more inclusive, welcoming and prosperous future for our sport.

"This work is ongoing and will require the collective support of sportscotland and multiple partners to maintain the progress made."