YORKSHIRE V SACA - T20 MATCH REPORTS (22 May 2026)

MATCH ONE RESULT: YORKSHIRE WON BY 8 WICKETS

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MATCH TWO RESULT: YORKSHIRE WON BY 2 RUNS

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On the day that the 2026 Vitality Blast season got underway across the country for many of the First-Class counties, SACA were also in T20 action, with two clashes against Yorkshire at Weetwood Sports ground in Leeds.

SACA’s Ajay Khunti gave his claims for a county contract a more than timely boost, as having performed well for SACA in the recent red-ball encounters, he showed his class in the short form of the game too, smashing both a century and a fifty on the day!

GAME ONE MATCH REPORT

In match one it was SACA who batted first, and despite the loss of five wickets in the opening six powerplay overs, they were able to recover to post a target that at least gave the bowlers something to try and defend.

Gennaro Reddy, Dylan Rawal, Daniyal Khan, Savin Perera and Aum Patel were the batters to fall cheaply, before Khunti's knock wrestled SACA back right into the game.

His brilliant unbeaten 100 oozed class and power, and was by far the standout innings of the day! It came off just 53 balls and included 13 fours and three sixes, as SACA recovered to post a total of 149 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs.

Chasing 150 for victory, Yorkshire openers Joe Hayes (69) and Owen Smith (44) did most of the hard work, getting their side off to a flyer, adding 116 for the first wicket in the opening 15.3 overs, leaving Yorkshire needing a further 34 runs from the final 27 balls of their innings.

With both openers gone, it was left to Harry Duke and Will Bennison to get them over the line, which they did, just, with only two balls of the innings remaining.

It was a creditable performance from the SACA bowlers, who were disciplined throughout – taking the game right down to the wire, with Yorkshire going into the final over still requiring 11 to win – getting there off the first four deliveries!

Hamidullah Qadri and Aum Patel were the two wicket takers for SACA, although Shareeq Sheikh was exceptional, conceding just 17 runs from his four overs.

GAME TWO MATCH REPORT

Yorkshire batted first in game two, and again the hosts had a fine knock from opener Owen Smith to thank for posting a decent total, with the right-hander hitting 83 from just 44 balls.

It gave Yorkshire the platform they needed, and Harry Duke took full advantage, hitting 46 from 33 deliveries to help his side to a competitive total of 179 for 5.

Wickets for SACA were shared among the bowlers, with in Zain Latif, Chinmay Mullapudi, Hassan Mughal, Jaskaran Singh and Shareeq Sheikh each taking one apiece.

In reply, SACA again needed a fine knock from Khunti to keep them in the game, as his 56 from 37 balls was the top score for his side.

This time however he got great support from Savin Perera (32 off 19) and Daniyal Khan (25 off 16), as SACA kept in the hunt and on top of the run rate throughout the chase.

After 18 overs of SACA's reply they were proably favourites, needing only 17 from the final two overs for victory, with five wickets in hand, however only eight runs came off the nineteenth over, leaving them requiring 9 from the last.

It proved too many, as Isaac Bepey got through the over without conceding a boundary to take his side to a tight two-run victory.

Two outstanding and competitive games of cricket were seen on the day, which SACA were close to coming out on top of in both, and they can consider themselves very unfortunate to come away with two defeats, however plenty of positives to take into next week, with Nottinghamshire up next in another two T20 clashes at Lady Bay.   

SACA HIGHLIGHTS FROM YORKSHIRE T20s

Batting:                                                                        

Ajay Khunti                     100* (53)

Ajay Khunti                     56 (37)

Savin Perera                  32 (19)

Bowling:

Shareeq Sheikh           4-0-17-0