Cricket Scotland appoints new interim CEO amid series of 'key' arrivals

Cricket Scotland has appointed a new chief executive as part of a series of ‘key’ new arrivals at the organisation.

Pete Fitzboydon will take over as CEO on a six-month interim basis with immediate effect, taking over from Gordon Arthur.

In March Arthur, who joined in July 2022, announced that he was leaving the role after six months amid an ongoing racism row within the sport.

Fitzboydon is a former chief executive of London Sport, Badminton England and Cycling UK and his most recent role was as a consultant to the RFU, focusing on improvement of governance standards within professional rugby.

He said: “I am delighted to be joining Cricket Scotland during this important time for the sport.

“There remains a great deal of work to be done to build on the progress to date and deliver on our commitments to anti-racism and EDI within the sport, whilst continuing to rebuild trust within the Scottish cricketing community.

“I am also keen to support the ongoing enhancement of Cricket Scotland as an organisation, to ensure it flourishes for years to come.

“We are about to begin an exciting domestic cricket season, while our Men’s and Women’s national squads have crucial World Cup qualifying campaigns on the horizon.

“It promises to be an extremely busy summer, and I am really looking forward to getting out and about around the country to meet people from all communities who share my love of cricket.”

He will head up the senior leadership team which has been enhanced by the appointment of Kash Taank as Head of EDI.

He has joined on a secondment from his role as Sports Equalities Manager with Glasgow Life.

Taank, who has 25 years experience with local government, including spells with Sport England and Lothian NHS, is widely recognised as a leading authority on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and was part of the bid team that secured the Glasgow Commonwealth Games for 2014.

Cricket Scotland say the recruitment process for the specialised role of head of ‘changing the boundaries’ is also now close to conclusion.

As part of the announcements made on Thursday, Declan Ritchie was appointed new conduct in sport manager.

The statement released on the Cricket Scotland said: “The recruitment process to appoint a permanent Cricket Scotland Chief Executive will commence during the summer, with the target date of December 1, 2023 for the position to be filled as per the Action Plan drawn up following the publication of the ‘Changing The Boundaries’ report.”