Essex Cricket is delighted to announce a new three-year partnership with the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA).
After launching in 2021, SACA aims to tackle the inequalities and specifically the lack of British South Asian (BSA) representation in professional cricket. SACA was developed on the back of a PHD undertaken by Tom Brown in partnership with ECB, Warwickshire and Birmingham City University
Essex Cricket’s relationship with SACA started when we commissioned Tom Brown of SACA to support our pathways with actioning the findings from the PHD study
SACA originated from the research which was funded by Essex, Warwickshire and the ECB, with all parties keen to know more about the trends around the development of players from Diverse background and the date of birth impact on pathway players.
The new partnership will include the Leyton Hub becoming the latest location for SACA and link up with the flourishing East London Development Programme which oversees boys’ and girls’ cricket within the boroughs of East London, such as Newham, Redbridge, Havering, Barking & Dagenham and Waltham Forest.
With 55% of Essex Cricket’s Player Pathway coming from an ethnic background, along with a strong history of professional players coming from the East London region, the partnership will provide elite performance programmes for BSA cricketers in East London, who have the aspirations of following in the footsteps of Nasser Hussain, Ravi Bopara, Varun Chopra and most recently, Feroze Khushi and Robin Das.
In combination with the research, this programme will also be used to gather knowledge on how to provide a performance environment which accommodates for the specific needs of BSA female players, which will then be fed back into the county structure.
Several SACA players will link up with the Essex Development team over the course of the three years, whilst a T20 fixture between an Essex Cricket XI and a team that will include SACA XI players and will take place on May 15 at The Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford.
Essex’s Cricket Operations Director, Dan Feist commented: “We are proud to be partnering with SACA ahead of the upcoming season. They have achieved a huge amount over the last few years, and we are looking forward to helping them develop in the future for the greater good of cricket development in East London.
“Working with the next generation of cricketers and coaches in our local communities is important to Essex Cricket and the game, the opportunities SACA are creating for young cricketers will help grow the game and the talent in the region along supporting players on the pathway or just off the pathway.”
