The entire board of Cricket Scotland has resigned with immediate effect before the publication of an independent review that is expected to find that there is evidence of institutional racism.

The report, due to be published on Monday is expected to support allegations of racism and discrimination across Scottish cricket.

It was conducted after Scotland’s all-time wicket-taker Majid Haq and team-mate Qasim Sheikh reported allegations of racism in November last year.

During the review a number of referrals and allegations were passed to a number of organisations including Police Scotland.

Ahead of what is expected to be a damning report, Cricket Scotland announced that the board had resigned, and a complete review will look to change the “governance, leadership and support” structures that have failed several players within the game.

“The Board of Cricket Scotland has resigned with immediate effect. The Directors sent the letter of resignation to the interim chief executive officer this morning," Cricket Scotland 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.

“These arrangements will be reviewed after the publication of the report into racism in cricket in Scotland and updates given accordingly.”

A spokesperson for sportscotland said: “This has been an exceptionally challenging time for everyone involved in Scottish cricket. We have been made aware of the board’s decision and as the national agency for sport, we will take immediate steps to provide significant additional governance and leadership support to Cricket Scotland.”

According to Cricket Scotland's website, the board has 14 members.

The review was carried out by equality and diversity specialists Plan4Sport.

The Herald:

Aamer Anwar, the Scots lawyer representing the two players, has said the report could prove “devastating” for Cricket Scotland.

An interim report, released in April, revealed that more than 200 people had come forward to give evidence.

The review carried out interviews with Cricket Scotland staff, national squad players and board members both past and present

It is understood SportScotland was extremely concerned by the review's findings and have been keeping all options on the table, including the withdrawal of funding to Cricket Scotland. It provided more than £500,000 to Cricket Scotland between 2019 and 2020.

In the letter to the interim chief executive Gordon Arthur, the board wrote that "we are all truly sorry" to everyone who has experienced racism, and "we believe we must now step aside to enable the required progress to be made in the coming months".

The letter to Mr Arthur said: "When the review into racism in Scottish cricket was announced last year we were fully supportive of the review. The review has achieved an unparalleled level of engagement and we believe it will be truly transformative, not just for Cricket Scotland and the sport of cricket, but it will provide a watershed moment for Scottish sport and society in general.

"The Board have been totally committed to implementing the findings of this review in full to make the sport of cricket in Scotland a truly welcoming and inclusive place for all. 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."

The board said it had made important initial steps to improve the governance and leadership of Cricket Scotland since the start of the year.

It said it was the start of a "long journey to overhaul and modernise the governance of the sport to ensure its continued success in the years ahead".

It said that there were two programmes of work, one to deliver a thorough, fair and speedy resolution to the issues raised about racism, and the other to overhaul and modernise the governance of the sport which it said were "individually huge challenges for a small organisation like Cricket Scotland".

But it said that while the board had not been given sight of the review report, it was 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," the board said.

"We wish everyone in Cricket Scotland every success and hope that the sport of cricket will emerge from this review implementation period into a new, transformed and truly welcoming environment that will enable it to flourish at every level in the years ahead."

Majid Haq revealed last year that he had suffered abuse in his career.

He represented Scotland on more than 200 occasions but did not play again after being sent home from the 2015 World Cup. At the time he hinted he felt victimised on grounds of race.

"As an ethnic minority cricketer, you need to perform twice as well as a white counterpart to get the same opportunities," he said in November.

He spoke out after former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq told MPs that English cricket was "institutionally" racist.

His testimony led to changes in Yorkshire's leadership, Headingley being temporarily stripped of hosting international matches, and the England and Wales Cricket Board putting together a 12-point plan to tackle racism in the game.