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Cricket bosses suspend MacKay over bullying claims

By Graeme Macpherson

CRICKET SCOTLAND chief executive Gus MacKay has been placed on gardening leave following allegations of bullying and intimidating behaviour.

It is the latest row to hit the governing body, who earlier in the week were accused of ‘institutional racism’ by former internationals Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh, with an independent investigation set to follow.

There is no suggestion that MacKay’s absence is linked to those claims but he has been absent from the workplace for a month now following complaints from Cricket Scotland staff about a bullying approach that has badly affected morale among employees. Staff have been told MacKay is absent due to ‘personal reasons’ with no indication of when — or if — he will return to work.

Concerns over the Zimbabwean’s behaviour were raised around six months ago, with female employees said to have felt the brunt of his alleged bullying behaviour.

Cricket Scotland has no human resources department to appropriately handle sensitive cases of this nature, and there is a fear among staff about reprisals for asking questions about how this issue is being dealt with. Mackay, 54, has been in post since

2019 when he succeeded Malcolm Cannon, having previously worked in a number of senior posts in English cricket and rugby, including as chief executive at Sussex and managing director of Worcester Warriors.

In his absence, Cricket Scotland chair Tony Brian has been placed in charge of day-to-day matters, with the volunteer board of directors running the rest of the organisation.

In a statement given to the Times, Brian said: ‘Our chief executive is currently on leave for personal reasons and it would be inappropriate to discuss the details of this in a public forum. I am standing in for him during his absence working with the leadership team.’

Sportscotland, one of Cricket Scotland’s major funding partners, are closely monitoring developments. It is understood their funding — around £500,000 in the year 2019/20 — could be at risk if this issue is not resolved to Sportscotland’s satisfaction.

Their statement read: ‘We are committed to working with Cricket Scotland across a number of areas including effective leadership and governance. In line with our standard procedures all areas of our partnership with Cricket Scotland will be considered as part of our continuous review process.’

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2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

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