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While Scotland was winning a CWC League 2 ODI against Namibia at Forthill Cricket Ground, close to Dundee, an upbeat and vivacious Australian woman was observed making her rounds, speaking with locals and supporting Richie Berrington’s squad in between. She shook hands and smiled, giving no hint that she had taken on what may be the hardest role in international cricket.
In Glasgow in August 2023, Trudy Lindblade was in charge of the largest cycling event in history. She handled the competition for world titles in thirteen different categories while serving as CEO of the first-ever UCI Cycling World Championships.
A mere two months later, Lindblade took a job as CEO of Cricket Scotland, an outfit still reeling from the catastrophic consequences of the independent 2022 inquiry that exposed it as an institutionally racist organisation, garnering international attention. Cricket Scotland has been functioning under “special measures” as a result of the “Changing the Boundaries” study, with Sport Scotland, the government sports body, effectively in charge of them. Early in 2024, Lindblade replaced Pete Fitzboyden as interim CEO. Shortly after, Cricket Scotland published its internal McKinney Report, which exposed a misogynistic and sexist culture in the sport.
In that period, Lindblade is the fifth CEO to assume leadership. Which raises an interesting question: why would a successful senior female administrator want to work for a company that seems to be buried in ‘isms’ and is having trouble repairing its damaged reputation off the pitch?
“I knew this role would be tough because I’d been watching and observing some of the media that was coming through while I was doing the Cycling World Championships,” Lindblade told. “But when you’re in it, it’s much more complex and more difficult than you can possibly imagine. That said, I’m determined to find a way through this for everyone. I’ve delivered hard projects before, worked in difficult environments before. This is certainly the most difficult environment I’ve worked within. But I can see the opportunity and it is worth it to get through to the other side. That’s the message that I want to send because I want people to work on that opportunity with me. I really believe it’s there if we get everybody pulling in the same direction.”
After six months of Lindblade’s leadership, Cricket Scotland is about to unveil a four-year plan. Given the events of the last two years, it should come as no surprise that women and girls, along with equality in general, are in the forefront and that CS is made into a reliable and efficient governing body. The plan has been in the works for a year, having started as a consultation process under Fitzboyden and continued under Lindblane.
It will disappoint those who were hopeful that Scotland would strive for Test status and full membership. The plan asks for long-term on-field success, and Lindblade argues the organisation must first clean house before considering another run at it.
“We have a new board, we have new leadership, and we have been through two of the most difficult years a sporting organisation can go through. When we’re ready and equipped, that Full Membership should always be on our agenda. But we need to have all our building blocks in place so that if and when we do get to that point, we can do it and do it well. There’s a lot of things that have to happen before that though, both from a governance point of view but also on the field. We want to be playing more cricket, both men and women, against the best countries in the world.”