Cricket Scotland 'regrets the hurt' endured by racism whistleblower

Cricket Scotland 'regrets the hurt' endured by racism whistleblowerImage caption, Majid Haq was sent home from the 2015 Cricket World Cup for posting a social media message about racism and then contributed to a major review of the problem in Scottish cricketByAndrew PickenBBC News ScotlandPublished1 hour agoCricket Scotland has said it "regrets the hurt" endured by a former top cricketer who blew the whistle on racism in the sport.The original complaint by Majid Haq led to the governance of Cricket Scotland being branded institutionally racist in a review which was published in 2022.Haq is now an umpire in the sport and last year launched a civil legal claim against the sport's governing body for alleged victimisation after he was removed from umpiring at a Scotland international fixture.This legal claim has now been dropped and both Haq and Cricket Scotland have issued statements, external about the situation. Haq, from Paisley, and former Scotland teammate Qasim Sheikh spoke out about their experiences of racism in the game in 2022. The subsequent review found evidence of institutional racism in Scottish cricket and highlighted 448 examples.Cricket Scotland accepted the hundreds of recommendations made in this review in full. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Majid Haq won 209 caps for Scotland but never played for the national side again after making his original complaintThe sport's governing body then hired two law firms and a race equality charity to independently investigate the racism allegations made by former players and others in the game.BBC Scotland last year revealed that one of these investigations concluded that Haq had been victimised for speaking out and that his later career as umpire was "substantially undermined" as a result of him going public with his concerns. A club official was convicted in 2023 for racially abusing Haq when he was umpiring a game.Last year's civil claim was lodged after...