Calls for former Yorkshire CCC pace bowler John Blain to be publicly exonerated

Another thread in the tapestry came loose this week, with the revelation by John Blain, the former Yorkshire and Scotland pace bowler, that he had been cleared of all allegations north of the border.

One of them - that he used the P-word on a tour to Kenya in 2007 - was cited as the key corroborative evidence against him in the Yorkshire case, supporting a similar accusation by Azeem Rafiq. Blain was fined, reprimanded and cast to the outer, branded a racist and all that goes with it.

Not the least troubling element of Blain’s story was that Cricket Scotland chose not to exonerate him publicly when informing him of its decision in January, after the claims had been rejected by lawyers, but instead asked him to sit on the information while the “complainers” were told.

Technology in Scotland must be slow to say the least.

Five months on, with the email, postal and telephone service apparently down from Drummore to Dunnet Head and all points between, Blain’s patience finally snapped and he released the news himself, taking a side-swipe at “the small ‘anti-racist’ cabal” from which Cricket Scotland is “once again running scared”, one which has “exerted such a malign influence over our sport”.

Now Blain has received the backing of Tony Brian, the Cricket Scotland chair from 2015 to 2022, who believes that the 45-year-old should be publicly cleared by the governing body and by sportscotland, the national agency which commissioned a review into racism in Scottish cricket in 2021, which concluded that sport in the country is institutionally racist.

Branding that report by a body called Plan4Sport as a piece of work that “can no longer be relied upon”, Brian said: “Crucially, a terrible personal price has been paid by individuals such as John Blain, who has been an outstanding servant to our sport for many years.

“The outrageous allegations of racism against him have been shown to be completely false, as those who have had the privilege of knowing him over the years were confident would happen.

“sportscotland and Cricket Scotland should immediately take accountability and publicly apologise to John and his family and restore him without delay to the Cricket Scotland Hall of Fame.”

Blain, who is demanding “a full and transparent inquiry” into the actions of Cricket Scotland and sportscotland, as well as wanting the ECB to revisit his case, was stripped of that honour in 2022.

The Plan4Sport report, known as Changing the Boundaries, identified 448 examples of alleged racism in Scotland.

Enormous doubts have attended the processes and conclusions reached, with Brian having called for a government inquiry.

“It now seems increasingly clear that Scotland’s national sporting agency has presided over a major and growing scandal,” he added.

“Its continuing refusal to admit the irredeemable flaws in its report is a shameful attempt to cover up the truth.

“The reputation of cricket in Scotland has been outrageously and unfairly dragged through the gutter and it’s now time for the cover-up to end.”

Brian had misgivings from the get-go.

“Since very early on, I and others have been pointing out to sportscotland that the report by so-called ‘Global Diversity, Equality and Inclusion experts’ (per a sportscotland press release) Plan4Sport (in reality a three-person business operating out of a residential property in the West Midlands) was fatally and irredeemably flawed, riven with conflicts and partiality. It has now been utterly discredited.”

Brian does not deny the existence of racism. That there have been examples of it cannot be disputed – only the extent and the essential detail.

"None of this is to say that cricket in Scotland has been completely free of racism,” he stressed.

"Sadly, as in all of Scottish society, there have been isolated racist incidents in cricket, but those have rightly been dealt with promptly and appropriately.”

Blain’s case, along with the Yorkshire investigation, has been notable for the way that people have rushed to pass judgement in a febrile atmosphere.

The result has been many shattered lives and a sport that has never felt so divided.

"It now seems very clear that the sport was sacrificed on the altars of personal and political agendas based upon the very flimsiest of evidence,” added Brian of the Scotland situation.

He might just as well have been talking about matters in England.