RIVA PINDORIA JOINS LANCASHIRE AND BECOMES SACA’S FIRST FEMALE GRADUATE

SACA is today delighted to announce that SACA Women’s top-order batter Riva Pindoria has been awarded a two-year rookie contract with Lancashire Cricket Women - joining the Manchester based county until the end of the 2028 season.

Pindoria becomes the 20^th player to graduate through the SACA system and earn a professional contract with a first-class county, however more importantly becomes the first ever female player to do so, following the launch of SACA’s Women’s programme, in collaboration with Take Her Lead, earlier this year.

Pindoria, who to date has represented Middlesex in Tier Two of the Women’s domestic county structure, was named as one of the Inaugural SACA Women’s squad earlier this year, and steps up to Tier One with Lancashire after a successful season with both Middlesex and SACA in 2026, and when standing out on trial with Lancashire Women’s Second Eleven this year.

For Middlesex, the Barnet-born batter finished this season’s Vitality Blast with a strike rate of 127, top scoring with a knock of 52* off just 28 balls against Sussex in July, whilst for SACA, her highest score of 55* came in her debut T20 appearance for the Academy against Glamorgan, in SACA’s convincing nine-wicket victory in June.

The inaugural year of SACA’s Women’s programme has been run in collaboration with Take Her Lead as a pilot programme, with players benefitting from a fully-funded programme of ongoing one-to-one and squad group coaching sessions from SACA’s elite coaching group throughout the season, and from specialist support and mentoring provided by Take Her Lead’s advisory panel of experts in the Women’s game with an important female lens, in areas such as Strength and Conditioning, nutrition and psychology.

Speaking of Riva Pindoria signing professional terms with Lancashire Cricket Women, Tom Brown, Founder and Managing Director of SACA, commented:

“We are absolutely thrilled for Riva and are delighted that she has become the first female player to graduate through the SACA system.

“When we launched the Women’s programme earlier this year, we were hugely impressed with the quality of the SACA Women’s squad we selected, and Riva was one of the players that immediately stood out as a marquee player.

“We had extremely high hopes that the inaugural year of the Women’s pilot programme would yield positive results, and are delighted that Lancashire have recognised Riva’s talents and given her an opportunity to prove herself in the professional game.

“Her work ethic, attitude and appetite to improve are just three of the qualities that shine through with Riva, alongside her obvious natural talent, and we couldn’t be happier that she becomes our 20^th graduate of the SACA programme.

“All at SACA wish Riva every success as a professional cricketer and we look forward to building on this early success as we move forward with the SACA Women’s programme.”

Riva Pindoria herself commented:

“I am extremely proud and excited to sign a contract with Lancashire. It is a huge milestone in my career, and I can’t wait to get started in the coming months.

“Having spoken to Readie [Chris Read] ahead of the move, I am really drawn to the project at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground and believe I can contribute to help the squad achieve their goals over the coming years.

“I am looking forward to joining a talented group and really getting stuck into things during my time at Lancashire.”