The South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) Women’s programme, run in collaboration with Take Her Lead, a charity dedicated to advancing equity, diversity, and the inclusion of women and girls in cricket, was established in March this year to support the progression of aspiring South Asian female cricketers.

With SACA securing professional contracts for 18 male cricketers since its inception in 2022, the women’s programme aims to replicate that progress, ultimately with the aim of raising the proportion of British South Asian women in professional cricket, which is currently only at 3.3%.

At the heart of the programme is a commitment to all-round player development. Participants benefit from high performance training, specialised nutrition advice, and sports psychology sessions and these elements combine to create an environment that aligns with professional standards, which many players have not previously experienced, even if they have been involved in established county pathways.

A media event at Leamington CC, organised to promote the programme, is where broadcaster Isa Guha, who founded Take Her Lead, summed up the ambitions of the initiative.

She said: “This is something that has been close to my heart and I look at my own personal journey when I think about what needs to be done, it's really about understanding what barriers still exist.

“It's really about making sure these girls have the best support possible to be able to continue their cricket journeys.”

The former England player also outlined her involvement and explained her vision of success. “I've been involved with SACA since the start as a patron, and Tom Brown (SACA CEO) was very keen to set up a women's programme on the back of the success of the men's programme. And very naturally he wanted to get some expertise around the female game, and so that's why we set up the advisory group.

“The goal is to get one player signed to a tier one county, I think that's a realistic target. It's not just about numbers for us, it's about the experience. We’re making sure the environment is as good as it can be for these girls to thrive.”

Anusha Chauhan, a leg-spinning all-rounder who is currently on the programme, reflected on her experiences, saying: “I actually saw the opportunity on social media. A few coaches and players that I played with previously sent it to me and really encouraged me to apply.

“We've had lots of training sessions, which has been fantastic. They've all been high performance, high intensity sessions. We've had specialist nutrition sessions as well. Later today, we've got a psychology session.

“I've actually never had any of this experience before, even through the county system. So being exposed to all these opportunities has been fantastic for me in terms of building up my own professionalism.

“With the nutrition, especially, it's been very contextual. We've been given lots of different food options to cater for our own South Asian diets, which has been really beneficial because it's been hard growing up not having that support.”