SACA LAUNCHES INAUGURAL WOMEN’S PROGRAMME IN COLLABORATION WITH TAKE HER LEAD

SACA is today delighted to announce the launch of its very first Women’s programme, building on the success of a Men’s programme that has already seen SACA secure playing contracts for 18 of the Academy’s players with Professional County Clubs.

Established in 2022, SACA has to date focused on the Men’s game, with enormous success, however the launch of the Academy’s inaugural Women’s programme is another significant milestone in SACA’s story.

The pilot scheme, funded by the ECB & SACA and launched today with a promotional video on social media headlined by Hampshire cricketer Naomi Dattani and Ex-England seamer Sonia Odedra, called for between 6 and 10 non-professionally contracted British South Asian girls aged over 18 to apply to join a fully-funded high-performance elite programme, which will run over the next twelve months.

M. Khan - In 2023 during SACAs U16 programme

The Women’s programme will benefit from the focus of leading coaches from across the game, with Shahbaz Choudhary, who has a proud track record of developing several fast bowlers, both male and female, from Academy level to professional status, Gemaal Hussain, the former Pakistan and Scotland Women’s Assistant Coach and Strength & Conditioning Coach, and Amar Rashid, brother of Adil, who has worked as a Coaching Consultant for both England Lions and the West Indies, all involved in the programme.

The pilot programme will be supported by ‘Take Her Lead’, the registered charity founded by former England International & broadcaster, Isa Guha, dedicated to advancing equity and diversity in cricket and increasing participation for women and girls. Take Her Lead will provide an advisory group of experts with an array of experience in the Women’s high-performance environment and South Asian perspective. The advisory group, chaired by Isa Guha, includes current & former South Asian professional players Abtaha Maqsood and Sonia Odedra, as well as Helen Shipman, England Women’s S&C Coach, Lydia Greenway, England Selector, and Kay Baig, cultural expert and Women & Girls Manager at NACC, to name but a few. Whilst providing strength and conditioning support, nutritional advice and sports psychology mentoring, the advisory group will also ensure the programme is built with equity and inclusion in mind. 

Applications to join the Women’s Academy are now being taken and anyone who meets the criteria and is interested in joining should apply by visiting SACA’s website – www.saca-uk.com.

Tom Brown, Founder and Managing Director of SACA, commented:

“We are really excited to be able to launch our first dedicated Women’s programme and can’t wait to get things up and running.

“Having worked in the Women’s game as a scout and coach for the past 6 years I’ve seen firsthand how the game as grown and excited that SACA will take on a leading role in helping to develop talented young British Asian female cricketers and helping them achieve their ambitions to break into the professional game.

“We thrilled to have the support of Take Her Lead, and are sure support from their experts in Women’s performance can emulate the success of the SACA men’s programme.

“We are confident that with the right approach, we can very quickly start to see similar results from SACA’s female programme and start to emulate the success our Men’s programme has delivered for so many talented cricketers.”

Isa Guha, Founder and Chair of Take Her Lead, commented:

“We are thrilled to be involved in the inaugural SACA Women’s Programme. which will provide a much-needed focus for South Asian Women in cricket. Our role is to ensure the environment created makes these women feel like they belong in cricket, taking their background and gender into consideration. Our fabulous group of advisors and experts will support the development of these women, whilst also ensuring this programme is built for success.”