Middlesex Cricket were delighted to play South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) as the Men’s Second Eleven played hosts at Teddington Cricket Club on Thursday.
SACA is an intervention programme designed to tackle the inequalities highlighted by research regarding the lack of British South Asian representation in professional cricket.
By the end of the summer, the side will have played Second XI sides from Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Surrey and Glamorgan as well as ourselves in multi-day, T20 and 50-over formats.
Having won the toss and choosing to bat first, SACA were dismissed for 215 in the 48th over – Omar Akram top-scoring with 68 and Zain-ul-Hassan chipping in with 62.
Max Harris (3/18) and Ethan Bamber (3/34) both claimed three wickets each for Middlesex and bowled well, with Ishaan Kaushal (2/31), Toby Greatwood (1/38) and Thilan Walallawita (1/46) all claiming scalps too.
In reply, Joe Cracknell made 84 off 68 balls and Joel Curtis contributed 60 off 52 deliveries, striking 15 fours and three sixes between them as we chased down the target six wickets down with 16.2 overs to spare.
Head of Men’s Performance Cricket, Alan Coleman, said: “SACA have a great programme that are giving very talented players the opportunities to showcase their skills against counties.
“We look forward to engaging with them in the future and continuing to build our relationship in the near future.”
We thank Teddington Cricket Club for hosting the fixture and hope that this is the first of many against a promising opposition.
