Worcestershire 2nd XI will launch their 2022 programme on Tuesday (April 5) with a landmark two-day game against the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) at Stratford.
SACA was set up this winter to help British Asian players into county cricket with Worcestershire Rapids Vitality Blast captain Moeen Ali, one of their ambassadors, along with Adil Rashid and Saqib Mahmood. Worcestershire are proud to be providing the opposition for their first ever fixture.
The SACA website reports that 30% of recreational players in England and Wales are British Asians, but only five per cent are professionals.
Moeen Ali said: “I’m really happy to be an ambassador for SACA and am excited to see the impact this will have on the game in the future.
“Hopefully, there will be more guys like me who will now have a better opportunity to achieve their goals and make it as a professional cricketer too.”
SACA CEO, Tom Brown, said: “We are delighted to have Mo, Adil, and Saqib come on board as ambassadors for our programme as they are fantastic role models for young BSA cricketers trying to break into the professional ranks.
We hope that through our programme, we will see higher levels of BSA representation not only on the county scene, but also earning England caps like these guys have done.”
Worcestershire Seconds coach, Kadeer Ali, has named a 12 strong squad for the fixture.
It includes new signings, opening batter Taylor Cornall and left arm bowler Ben Gibbon, plus spinner Olly Davidson who impressed for Scotland in the ICC Under-19 World Cup this winter.
The game will be a warm-up for the opening Second Eleven Championship match against Gloucestershire at Kidderminster from April 11 to 14.
Worcestershire 2nd XI
Taylor Cornall
Tom Fell
Jacques Banton
Oli Cox
Rehaan Edavalath
Henry Cullen (w)
Ollie Walker
Reeve Evitts
Ben Gibbon
Mitchell Stanley
Olly Davidson
Cameron Jones
