SACA V SURREY MATCH REPORT (08 – 09 April 2026)

RESULT: MATCH DRAWN

SACA’s second encounter of the week to kick off their 2026 season came against Surrey at Loughborough’s Carillion Cricket Ground this week, in another two-day red-ball encounter.

After SACA skipper, Hisham Khan, had won the toss and elected to bowl, it was the county side that had the better of the opening day.

SACA started the day well however, as two early wickets for seamer Eshun Kalley, in the fifth and ninth overs, had Surrey on 38 for 2, before a crucial 185 run partnership for the third wicket put Surrey in the ascendancy as the SACA attack worked hard for another breakthrough.

Opener Adam Thomas and SACA graduate Nikhil Gorantla, who signed for Surrey from SACA in mid-2025, did the damage, with the partnership eventually broken when Thomas was bowled by Zain Latif for a classy 114.

Latif struck again to pick up his second wicket, dismissing Gorantla nine short of his hundred, with Aum Patel then bowling 16.5 consecutive overs of left-arm spin from one end, picking up impressive figures of 4 for 68, before Surrey declared their first innings on 357 for 8.

With 24 overs remaining in the day, Sinel Gunarathne and Aum Patel opened for SACA, and added 31 for the first wicket before Gunarathne departed for 5 in the eighth over.

Patel was then undone by a sharply rising delivery in the fifteenth over, departing for 27, before the wickets of Savin Perera and Ismail Mohammed both fell, for 20 and 5 respectively, as SACA closed the opening day on 82 for 4, trailing by 275 runs.

An overnight declaration from SACA saw Surrey batting again at the start of day two, and having added 111 for the opening wicket, Latif made the breakthrough, with Patel taking a sharp catch at slip to see off Ollie Sykes for 52.

Latif was in the action again, with a brilliant piece of fielding off his own bowling, running out Josh Blake for 49, throwing down the stumps with the opener out of his crease and the score on 126 for 2.

Thirty overs into their innings, at lunch on day two, Surrey declared on 143 for 2, leading SACA by 418 runs, with two sessions of the game remaining.

A 35-run partnership was put on by the SACA openers before Gunarathne feathered one through to the keeper, departing for 9, although when Patel was joined at the crease by Savin Perera, the pair dug in.

Perera brought up his first half-century of the season, off 77 balls, with eight fours, before the pair, who had batted superbly, saw things through to the tea interval with the score on 132 for 1, with Perera on 58* and Patel on 47*.

Soon after the resumption, SACA’s second wicket partnership, having reached 101, was broken, with Patel falling three short of what would have been a second half-century in two games, as he fell for 47 from 72 balls, unable to add further to his score at tea.

A third SACA wicket fell soon after as Perera fell for 60, scored off 97 balls, and with SACA on 136 for 3 it was time for Ismail Mohammed and Ajay Khunti to bat time with sights set on the draw.

They’d added 41 for the fourth wicket and taken the score to 147 when Mohammed picked out the fielder at deep square to depart for 20, with skipper Khan then joining Khunti at the crease.

The pair saw things through to the close, with the SACA score on 183 for 4, with the match ending in a draw.

SACA are back in action again next week, when they take on Kent at Polo Farm in Canterbury in two white-ball twenty-over clashes on Monday, ahead of a three-day red-ball encounter from Tuesday against the same county opposition.

SACA HIGHLIGHTS FROM SURREY MATCH…

Batting:                                            Bowling:

Savin Perera                  60 (97)           Aum Patel                       16.5-1-68-4

Aum Patel                       47 (72)           Eshun Kalley                 11-0-61-2

                                                                  Zain Latif                       16-0-83-2