NORTHANTS V SACA MATCH REPORT (08 – 10 Sept 2026)
RESULT: MATCH DRAWN
After a break in the playing schedule of over three weeks, SACA’s Men’s side were back in competitive action this week, taking on Northamptonshire in a three-day red-ball encounter at Peterborough Town Cricket Club.
Day one of the clash was lost entirely to the weather, as heavy rain showers overnight stuck around throughout the morning, with the umpires having little option but to abandon play for the day at lunchtime, with zero prospect of the players getting onto a sodden surface.
Day two proved more eventful, as Northants skipper Dom Leech began the day by winning the toss and sticking SACA into bat.
SACA’s opening pair of Rahul Tangirala and Sinel Gunarathne added 28 for the first wicket before Tangirala fell for 19, lbw to the right-arm pace of the hosts’ captain.
Savin Perera and Gunarathne added a further 33 for the second wicket before Perera was caught at gulley for 21, chasing a wide one off the bowling of Scrimshaw.
Gunarathne was next to go, caught behind for 20, having put on a further 29 with Feroze Khushi, with the SACA score on 90 for 3.
Khushi, who has been in solid form this year, then added the largest partnership of the SACA innings with Aum Patel, putting on 72 for the fourth wicket, before Patel departed for 28, bowled by Ramesh.
Malik and Usman both fell for ducks, before Khushi’s knock also came to end, with the SACA number four having hit another half-century, eventually departing for 56 from 81 balls, as SACA fell from 162 for 3 to 170 for 7 in the space of three pivotal overs.
A late rally from the tail saw SACA add a further 56 runs to the total, finishing on 226 all out, bowled out inside 68 overs, with Sammy Singh finishing on 18*.
With the Northants batters facing 27 overs at the end of the day, the SACA bowlers were keen to make significant inroads into the hosts batting line-up, although they had to settle for just two wickets in the session, with Eesa Nadeem picking up the pair, as Northants ended day two on 115 for 2, trailing SACA by 111 runs.
For the game to stand any chance of yielding a result, Northants would need to bat with plenty of intent on day three, and so they did, as half centuries from Miller (68), Longdon (85), and Malherbe (52) saw the hosts declare their innings on 312 for 9, with a lead of just 86 runs on the board.
Pick of the bowlers for SACA was Nadeem, who added a further two wickets on day three to the two he’d taken the previous evening, finishing with fine figures of 4 for 68 from 16 overs.
With no prospect of victory on the cards, SACA’s mission was survival, and despite three wickets for Weatherall, and two apiece from Leech and Krishna, they got through to the close, finishing on 96 for 7, as the captains shook hands, with the game ending in a draw.
SACA are back in action again next week, when they’ll take on Derbyshire at Chesterfield in their final match of the season – another three-day red-ball clash starting on Monday 14th September.
SACA HIGHLIGHTS FROM NORTHANTS THREE-DAY MATCH…
Batting:
Feroze Khushi 56 (81)
Bowling:
Eesa Nadeem 16-2-68-4
Comments