Scotland Cricket: Women to get first paid contracts

Anjan Luthra played for Scotland at age grade up to under-19 level.Cricket Scotland

Cricket Scotland chair Anjan Luthra believes paid contracts for women are a "watershed moment"

Paid contracts are to be offered to the women's team for the first time by Cricket Scotland.

The sport's administrators hope it allows players to devote more time to training and is a step towards the women's game being fully professional.

Equal match fees to the men's and women's teams were introduced in 2021.

"This a watershed moment for the sport in Scotland," said Cricket Scotland chair Anjan Luthra, as the governing body made a number of announcements.

"The investment is an important building block in our desire to make cricket in Scotland a fully inclusive sport where there is no place for racism, discrimination or inequalities.

"We have an opportunity to create a bold new vision for Scottish cricket. We are rebuilding capacity within the governing body and addressing the weaknesses and failings identified through the Changing the Boundaries report."

The report - an independent review commissioned by Sportscotland - found the governance and leadership of the sport to be institutionally racist.

Cricket Scotland's previous board resigned in July, the day before the report's publication, and Luthra was appointed in October as the governing body begins its rebuilding process.

The Glasgow-born 31-year-old, who runs a London-based media company, will fill the role for a two-year period and will lead the development of a five-year strategy.

As part of a review into its strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and other support services, seven Cricket Scotland staff will not have their contracts renewed at the end of 2022 and up to three permanent staff roles will be redundant.

Interim chief executive Gordon Arthur will remain in position until November 2023 on a fixed-term contract but a recruitment process for a permanent chief executive will take place next year.

"We need to reset and rebuild to ensure we are in the strongest possible position to deliver real and meaningful change across Scottish cricket," he said.

"This won't be without challenges but we have a great opportunity to take the sport confidently forward. I understand this will be an uncertain period for many staff but we will do everything we can to support them."

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