Derbyshire will complete their preparations for the 2025 season with a friendly three day game against the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) at Derby starting on 30 March.
Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the match.
This is not a first-class fixture although it is fair to assume that Derbyshire’s side will include many of the anticipated starting eleven to face Gloucestershire in the opening County Championship match on 4 April.
SACA was formed in 2022 by Tom Brown and Kabir Ali, the latter having played Test and ODI cricket for England during an extensive career which saw him play for Worcestershire, Hampshire and Lancashire.
Brown researched the subject of British Asians engaged in cricket in England and Wales and discovered that while 30% of recreational cricketers and 20% of elite pathway players were of British Asian origin, their representation in professional cricket was only 5%.
SACA’s primary objective, therefore, is to encourage more players of Asian origin into professional cricket in England and Wales. It is planned as a short-term fix, with SACA expected to be disbanded after 2026, when, it is hoped, the project will have succeeded.
Derbyshire played against SACA in a rain-ruined game at Derby in March 2024, Derbyshire declaring their first innings on 293 for six off 64 overs with Matt Lamb (90) and Anuj Dal (43 not out) making the main contributions, before the visitors closed the day in 53 for two with Zak Chappell and Dal taking a wicket apiece. Sadly, rain ruled out any play on the scheduled second and third days.
Ten SACA cricketers have already impressed within the domestic game: Jafer Chohan at Yorkshire, Andy Umeed (Somerset), Zaman Akhter (Gloucestershire), Zen Malik (Warwickshire), Kashif Ali (Worcestershire), Yadvinder Singh (Worcestershire), Zain-ul-Hassan (Glamorgan), Arafat Bhuiyan (Kent), Hassan Azad (Leicestershire) and Hisham Khan (Warwickshire).
Derbyshire followers will doubtless recognise the names of Umeed and Kashif Ali; Umeed scored 172 not out for Somerset in the final Metro Bank One-Day Cup game at Derby in 2023, hitting six sixes and 11 fours. It is the highest individual one day score ever made at Derby and he reached 150 in 134 balls with his last 72 runs coming from just 31 deliveries.
Kashif Ali, meanwhile, was on course to register the fastest hundred at Derby in the same season reaching 50 off just 21 deliveries with four sixes and four fours, and it seemed inevitable that he would beat Shahid Afridi’s 42-ball ton for Hampshire in a T20 quarter final at Derby in 2017. However, he fell for 88, having faced a mere 36 balls, hitting seven sixes and eight fours.
So, although this fixture will offer Derbyshire’s players an opportunity to get some much-needed game time on grass, it is quite possible that the SACA opposition will have another potential star of the future in their ranks.
