HAMPSHIRE V SACA - MATCH REPORT: 11-13 MAY 2026

RESULT: HAMPSHIRE WON BY 33 RUNS

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SACA were back in red-ball action this week down on the south coast, where they faced Hampshire in a three-day encounter on the Nursery Ground of the county’s Utilita Bowl ground. SACA went into the game in Southampton in good form - unbeaten in their last six red-ball encounters against county opponents.

Day one at the Utilita Bowl began with Hampshire winning the toss and electing to bat, and it proved to be an inspired decision, ahead of a day where bat dominated ball throughout.

Hampshire had two centurions to thank for posting a big first innings total, as Sam Ashman (125 off 170 balls) and Dom Kelly (111 off 143) cashed in for the home side.

Their hundreds, along with 71 from Hampshire first team regular Ali Orr, 59 from Nic Halstead-Cleak, and an unbeaten 41 from Andrew Neal, helped their side post 453 for 9, before declaring to leave themselves a short spell at the SACA openers at the end of the day.

It was a tough day for the SACA bowling unit, who had to work hard for the rewards they got, however three wickets apiece for Jaskaran Singh (3 for 96) and Hisham Khan (3 for 98) saw them stand out as the pick of the Academy’s bowlers.

Following Hampshire’s declaration, just four overs remained in the day’s play for SACA’s openers to survive, however in the final over of the day Zaman Shafi was caught at short cover for 1, bringing the day's proceedings to a close, as SACA ended on 10 for 1 with Rahul Tangirala not out on 4*.

The morning session of day two saw more dominance from the home side, as six wickets fell in the morning session to leave SACA in a deep hole and needing something special to pull themselves back into the game.

First to go was Daniyal Khan in the sixth over of the day, caught at slip for 13, with number four Savin Perera following him just back two balls later, adjudged lbw for a duck, with SACA on 44 for 3.

Tangirala, fresh from a century in his last outing against Essex, had reached 43 when he was bowled in the sixteenth over, with Khan out in the next over for 2, and Aum Patel out for a duck in the next, leaving SACA in real trouble on 90 for 6.

Feroze Khushi was next to go, for a well worked 42, leaving Ismail Mohammed and Hamidullah Qadri with the task of surviving to lunch, which they achieved, adding an unbroken 45-run partnership for the eighth wicket, as the morning session ended with SACA on 152 for 7, facing a deficit of 301 runs with three wickets left standing.

Qadri and Mohammed kept going after lunch and had built a partnership of 113 before Qadri fell, to a sharp catch from the keeper, having scored an important 65 from 79 balls.

Just four overs later and the SACA innings was wrapped up, as first Thilan Walallawita fell for 5, followed by Singh for a duck, leaving SACA skipper Mohammed stranded at the crease – unbeaten on 50* from 90 deliveries.

With SACA all out for 232, Hampshire’s lead already stood at 221, but they declined the opportunity to enforce the follow on and batted again.

A quickfire start saw the hosts add 77 runs for the opening wicket in just nine overs before Singh struck to remove Fletcha Middleton for 17, with Orr going well at the other end.

Orr was joined by the experienced Felix Organ, and the pair took things through to the tea interval with Hampshire in control on 86 for 1, with Orr on 61* off 34 balls and Organ on 3*, having now extended their lead to 307 runs.

Two more wickets came SACA’s way in the evening session - the first taken by Chinmay Mullapudi to dismiss Organ for 24 and the second by Daniyal Khan to remove Halstead-Cleak for 39, before bad light forced stumps to be drawn early.

Whilst partners came and went, Orr had continued to bat aggressively through the session however, finishing unbeaten at the end of the second day on 154* from 107 balls with the Hampshire score on 256 for 3, leading by 477 runs.

An overnight declaration saw SACA openers Tangirala and Daniyal Khan at the crease to start the final day, and the pair batted beautifully, bringing up the hundred partnership in the 22^nd over of the innings, with Khan scoring 54 of them and Tangirala 39.

The pair were far from done there however and kept going, successfully batting through the entire morning session to reach lunch on 159 for 0 at lunch, with Khan on 81* off 105 balls and Tangirala on 69* off 102, trailing Hampshire by 318 runs.

Rain over the lunch interval caused a lengthy delay, and play was unable to resume until a little before 3pm, with conditions for the batters none the easier for the downpour.

Hampshire got their breakthrough just two balls into the restart, as Khan departed for a fantastic 83. He was followed by fellow opener Tangirala just three overs later for 72, with the SACA score now on 171 for 2, trailing by 306 runs.

Savin Perera and Feroze Khushi had added 23 for the third wicket when Perera was caught by the keeper chasing a wide one, for 13, and just five overs later Khushi was next to go, out for 25, with SACA now on 214 for 4.

Hisham Khan and Patel took things through to the tea interval with the score having reached 223 for 4, and then after the break they continued to build, batting aggressively and taking their partnership to 73 for the fifth wicket, with Khan passing fifty in the process, before he was bowled by Organ for 53 with SACA now on 287 for 5.

Another partnership of 72 was added in quick time for the sixth wicket between Patel and Mohammed, to keep the hopes alive, with Patel now also passing fifty himself, before Mohammed became Organ’s fourth victim of the innings, out for 25 with SACA on 359 for 6, trailing by just 118 runs now.

Patel was joined by Qadri, and the pair had put on 57 together, when Patel reached his century, with his three figures coming up off only 72 balls, only for him to be bowled the very next ball by Organ, giving the spinner a five-wicket haul, as SACA, still needing 62 for victory, fell to 416 for 7.

With the game right in the balance, and SACA having batted themselves right back into contention, it was Hampshire that grabbed the momentum, as seven became eight soon after as Qadri became Organ’s sixth victim, out for 28, followed by Walallawita becoming his seventh, out for 9 in the same over, with SACA still needing 42 to reach their target on 436 for 9.

Just three overs later, with only 8 more runs added, Zama Shafi was bowled for 5, with SACA all out for 444, leaving Hampshire the victors by the margin of 33 runs.

Organ was undoubtedly the star for Hampshire with the ball, finishing with superb figures of 7 for 133 from his 26 overs, whilst Aum Patel's hundred, his second of the season for SACA, proved too little too late on a day when SACA came so close to achieving a massive fourth innings run chase.

Next up for SACA are two T20 fixtures on Friday against Northamptonshire at the County Ground.

SACA HIGHLIGHTS FROM HAMPSHIRE MATCH

Batting:                                                                        

Aum Patel 100 (73)

Daniyal Khan 83 (107)

Rahul Tangirala 72 (109)

Hamidullah Qadri                      65 (79)

Hisham Khan 53 (50)

Ismail Mohammed                    50* (90)

Rahul Tangirala                          43 (57) 

Feroze Khushi                             42 (55)

Bowling:

Jaskaran Singh                            15-0-96-3

Hisham Khan                               17.4-0-98-3