Cricket Scotland's entire board has resigned a day before a report into racism within Scottish cricket is due to be released.
The review was commissioned by government agency SportScotland last year after Scotland's all-time leading wicket-taker Majid Haq alleged that Cricket Scotland "institutionally racist". Haq's former teammate Qasim Sheikh has also spoken out about suffering racist abuse during his career.
In their resignation letter, the board issued a public apology and stated they had not read the report yet but were concerned about "proposed timescales and of certain mandated actions proposed" that were "unachievable".
The letter read: "We are all truly sorry and have apologised publicly to everyone who has experienced racism, or any other form of discrimination, in cricket in Scotland.
"However, while the Board has not been given sight of the review report, it is now aware of the proposed timescales and of certain mandated actions proposed within the report that it believes make the delivery of these two programmes unachievable within the timetable proposed and the current governance framework.
"Consequently, we believe we must now step aside to enable the required progress to be made in the coming months."
In response to the resignations, a Cricket Scotland spokesperson said: "Cricket Scotland will work in partnership with SportScotland with immediate effect to ensure appropriate governance, leadership and support is in place for the organisation and the sport in the days ahead, and these arrangements will be reviewed after the publication of the report into racism in cricket in Scotland and updates given accordingly."
Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing both Haq and Sheikh, told Sky the report could be "devastating" for Cricket Scotland. He said: "Cricket Scotland is dysfunctional and institutionally racist - if that is confirmed by this review, it will be devastating for Cricket Scotland.
"There are those within the organisation who should be ashamed of their treatment of Majid and Qasim and so many other cricketers who gave their lives to cricket but saw their careers taken away from them."
