Bowler in legal threat over Cricket Scotland racism allegation – BBC News

A Scotland international cricketer has threatened legal action against the sport’s governing body after claiming he was the victim of racial discrimination.

Hamza Tahir, who was capped 49 times, claims he was unfairly dismissed and has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 28.

The bowler was speaking at a news conference where other former players and campaigners criticised Cricket Scotland’s handling of allegations of racism within the sport.

The organisation has repeated its apology to anyone who was the victim of racism and says five cases are going through a disciplinary process.

Mr Tahir claimed his international playing career had been held back by prejudice but that he had now decided “enough is enough”.

He said he had lodged a grievance and was prepared to pursue an unfair dismissal case after his contract was not renewed earlier this year.

As a south Asian cricketer, he said he had to “work twice as hard to be on the same level as others, to get he same opportunities as others on big stages, being treated differently with many obstacles being put in my place”.

In a statement, Cricket Scotland thanked Mr Tahir for being a “tremendous servant to the Scotland men’s national team” but said the contract decision was taken on grounds of performance.

A second former Scotland cricketer, Majid Haq, also spoke at the news conference.

He criticised the governing body for urging mediation rather than taking disciplinary action in response to complaints.

“The victims can only move on once people have been held to account,” he said.

“Moving on suggests forgetting about what has happened but you can’t just forget”

Lawyer Aamer Anwar, representing the cricketers, accused the sport’s governing body of using “lack of jurisdiction” as an excuse of failing to take action.

He said there was a “toxic culture of denial” and lack of support for people who made complaints, which was driving people away from the sport.

“You get to the point where you think there’s no point in carrying on, and you leave and they get their end result,” he said.

“They get their all-white team practically, they get their racially-segregated team.”