2026 SACA REMITLY CUP AUCTION AND DRAFT TAKES PLACE AT LORD’S

Last night, in the media centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground, the auction and draft for the 2026 SACA Remitly Cup took place.

The SACA Remitly Cup is SACA’s showcase annual tournament, when three sides of thirteen are selected from SACA’s entire squad of over 60 players, with the three teams then competing in a hotly contested intra-club competition - with the round-robin group matches taking place at Wanstead Cricket Club on 12^th August, followed by the eliminator clash and final taking place the following day, 13^th August, at Wormsley Cricket Ground.

Each of the three sides are managed by one chosen media owner and two of SACA’s coaching team, with Nick Friend from the Cricketer teaming up with Owais Shah and Gemaal Hussein, Cameron Ponsonby from Wisden linking up with Shozair Ali and Adeel Ali, and Yas Rana representing the Final Word Podcast and partnering with Dominic Ostler and Adeel Shafeeq.

Last night’s format saw each of the three sides bidding with one million ‘SACA pounds’ for an initial 12 players in the auction phase of the night, to build the base of their squad. All remaining players were then entered into a draft, with sides selecting their chosen players in order, until each of the teams had selected their 13 players.

All-rounder Ajay Khunti was the first player up in the auction, and the Final Word took full advantage of some conservative bidding early in the contest to secure the in-form man for an absolute snip at £125,000.

From there things heated up rapidly, with the experienced Thilan Walallawita net up for grabs! In what became a fiercely contested auction, with Walallawita proving to be the player that each of the sides wanted, Wisden eventually came out with their man, securing the player for the staggering sum of £500,000.

Elegant and classy batter Daniyal Khan  was also in high demand, going for £425,000, with Wisden once again landing the winning bid, blowing the bulk of their auction budget on the two players they had targeted.

The steal of the night was undoubtedly spinner Hamidullah Qadri, who went for the bargain price of just £80,000 to The Final Word, whilst the raw pace and big-hitting power of Adnaan Riaz proved popular with Wisden, who snared the all-rounder in the draft phase of the night.

After the completion of both the auction and draft phases of the night, the following squads were selected, ahead of the two-day Festival kicking off in a fortnight’s time.

All at SACA would like to extend our thanks to MCC for allowing us to host and record last night’s auction and draft at the Home of Cricket – there’s no finer setting in the game.

The SACA Remitly Festival is a celebration of South Asian Cricket and Culture, with not only cricket, but music, entertainment and food laid on for spectators to enjoy!

SACA welcomes everyone to the SACA Remitly Festival, with entry FREE FOR ALL at both Wanstead Cricket Club on 12^th August and at Wormsley Cricket Ground on Thursday 13^th August.

More information on the SACA Remitly Festival can be found HERE