SACA show depth of British Asian talent pool in early showings

GEORGE DOBELL: The SACA performance was even more impressive given that several members of the squad were absent on county trials

In the end, they fell short. But in pushing Yorkshire second XI all the way, the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) went a large way to proving the value of their existence and underlining the untapped talent that exists in the Asian communities within the UK.

Yorkshire, benefiting from first use of a Bradford Park pitch that started dry and eventually offered copious assistance for the spinners, eventually won the three-day match by 27 runs with their off-spinner, Jack Shutt, opening the bowling in the final innings and claiming 8 for 69.

But by then, SACA had taken a first-innings lead with Andy Umeed making 77 and allrounder Zain-ul-Hassan claiming match figures of 8 for 54 with his right-arm seamers. Atif Sheikh, who has played for Derbyshire and Leicestershire previously, also impressed with his pace and is understood to be under consideration by a couple of counties as a limited-overs specialist in the Tymal Mills style.

The SACA performance was even more impressive given that several members of the squad were absent on county trials. Indeed, Amrit Basra made 157 not out on debut for Kent's second string, while Kashif Ali was representing Worcestershire's second team and Roshan Balaji was at Warwickshire.

The entire cost of the programme, around £50,000 (which pays for the male and female programmes as well as a research programme), is less than two thirds of the value of the contract of one of the player salaries in the Yorkshire second team which beat them. Almost the entire Yorkshire team were contracted to the club.

^{Andy Umeed previously played for Warwickshire (Michael Steele/Getty Images)}

The SACA scheme, based upon the PhD research of Tom Brown at Birmingham City University (BCU), is aimed at correcting the current trend which sees over 30 per cent of recreational cricketers in England and Wales classified as ''British Asian' but the figure drop to under five per cent when it comes to men's professional cricket.

It involves selecting a squad of players who do not currently have contracts and providing them with tailored training plans and dietary advice in the aim of helping them win deals within the county system. On the evidence of the match against Yorkshire, several of them have the ability to do that.

The SACA team drew their first match of the season, against Worcestershire's second team, with Zen Malik making 114. Malik made 171 for Hampshire's second team at the end of the 2021 season.

Their next fixture is a three-day match against Warwickshire's second XI at Portland Road (Edgbaston Foundation Ground) from May 2, followed by a limited-overs game against the same opposition in Stratford on May 6.