Search 4 A Star 2006

In the second year of our Talent Identification event, heats were held at Lord's Cricket Ground Indoor School and at Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire.

Our Professional Observers, including Jack Birkenshaw, Vince Wells, Phil Simmons, Devon Malcolm and Neil Burns saw a wide range of entrants bowl 12 balls at stumps, before the group was narrowed down to a final selection.

The shortlist was:

Tahir Afredi
Rashil Bhanderi
Dan Bowman
Andy Carter
Alex Day
Maaz Haffeji
Alex Hales
Gemaal Hussain
Tim Lewis
Brad Matthews
Mohit Mehta
Ridwan Patel
Siraj Rafique
James Scott
Adrian Shankar
Sachin Vaja
Ashley West
Ed Young

Those in the winning group were then invited to take join the London County Development Squad and take part in a series of matches and mentoring sessions.

The eventual winner was Sachin Vaja, who has impressed all involved at London County with his offbreak bowling. An Ilford lad, Sachin first came to London County's attention during a Search 4 A Star trial in Ilford in 2005. However he was in the middle of University finals and focussed first on his studies before returning in 2006 for another try.

With London County ensuring Sachin had plenty of exposure to top class cricket, he soon came to the attention of the ECB, after having bowled in the nets to Pakistan in Canterbury, India and England 'A'. He was the only player not contracted to a First Class County to be selected for the ECB's Spin Trial at Derby in September 2006, led by ECB Spin Coach David Parsons. Sachin and another off spinner Tom Winslade, were awarded Laker Spin Scholarships at a dinner held in his honour in September 2006, the hope being that they will follow in Laker's footsteps.

The scholarship saw Sachin spend two weeks at the World Cricket Academy in Mumbai during the winter of 2006.

In 2007 Sachin has been working with Essex CCC, under a Development Contract.

Links

ECB : Spin twins back scholarship
ECB : Parsons' Positive Spin
ECB : Spin's in says Parsons
ECB : ECB spin match