SACA student makes first appearance for England older club.
Yorkshire legspinner Jafer Chohan has earned his first England call-up for the men's limited-overs tour of West Indies, which begins at the end of October, becoming the first graduate of the South Asian Cricket Academy ( SACA ) to earn international recognition.
Launched in 2021 by Dr Tom Brown, the program aimed to cure the under-representation of British South Asian people in the professional sport. After conducting a four-year PhD at Birmingham City University, Dr. Brown co-founded SACA with former England international bowler Kabir Ali, who discovered that only 5 % of the men's cricketers play at the top level, a significant drop from the 30 % who play recreational cricket in England and Wales.
Chohan, who was released by Middlesex five years ago, aged 17, is one of 10 people and two coaches to have moved into the professional sport from SACA, who showcase their skills in fixtures against state following XIs and sessions opened to state scouts. Having joined Yorkshire in 2022, Chohan has established himself in their T20 aspect, and his England call-up comes off the back of a good 2024 Vitality Blast battle, taking 17 wickets at 15.52, with a striking performance of 5 for 14 against Durham- the third-best figures in Yorkshire's T20 history
Despite that kind, and the value of wrist-spin in the shorter forms, Chohan has yet to have in the people's Hundred. But, on Tuesday, Yorkshire announced he had signed a three-year commitment to stay at Headingley until the end of the 2027 summers. The Sydney Pacers have also selected him for the future Big Bash League campaign.
England are eager to discover their rewrite options following the global pension of Moeen Ali, who also happens to be president of SACA, while they also need to line up an eventual successor to Adil Rashid, whose foreign career has entered its 16th year. Although Rashid last month insisted that he has no immediate plans to retire after claiming his 200th ODI wicket during the Australia series, he namechecked Chohan as one of the young players he has been mentoring, both at Yorkshire and at his own cricket centre in Bradford, as part of the SACA programme.
<img src="images/2024/1026/388346.4di1mk4ncrdf.jpg","caption":"Jafer Chohan claimed five wickets for Yorkshire against Durham in this season's Vitality Blast"}
" It feels like an absolute dream to be selected", Chohan said. " It's what I've worked for my whole life.
" I've had a great week- having it announced about another three years at Yorkshire as well as having a call up now with England.
" For me, this is a really good opportunity to be around some of the world's best players, learn as much as I can, and really improve my game as much as I can," said the player. Having big England names in the Yorkshire dressing room, it does n't get too much better than that in terms of helping me improve".
Warwickshire's off-spinning allrounder Dan Mousley and Hampshire quick John Turner are the other uncapped members of the 14-man group. At the end of the summer, both players played in the limited-overs matches against Australia but were absent.
Chohan's selection, despite a professional career of just 23 T20 appearances, is in keeping with an unconventional approach adopted by England's selectors. Rob Key has placed the blame on players to choose them based on attributes rather than just on domestic averages since taking over as managing director at the start of the 2022 summer. That is at the forefront in 2024.
ESPNcricinfo Ltd
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The year began with Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir playing prominent roles in India based on their release points and action on the ball, with little focus on their modest first-class records for Lancashire and Somerset respectively. Hartley had 40 dismissals at 36.57 and Bashir 10 at 67 heading into that five-Test series, with the latter going on to feature across home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka, at the expense of county team-mate Jack Leach, who had been Ben Stokes' primary spinner for the first two years of his tenure as Test captain.
Leicestershire's Josh Hull was the beneficiary of this radical approach at the end of the summer, debuting in the final Test against Sri Lanka at the Kia Oval. With the 2025-26 Ashes in mind, Hull's 6ft7in height and left-arm action set him apart as a point of difference and trumped the fact he had taken just two wickets at 182.50 in three Division Two appearances this season. All this after England legend James Anderson was forced into retirement at the start of the summer.
With Test head coach Brendon McCullum set to assume the limited-overs job at the start of 2025, it is perhaps no surprise to see this left-field thinking filter into England's plans as they look to rebuild after disappointing showings at the 2023 ODI and 2024 T20 World Cups. The West Indies tour will be Marcus Trescothick's last as interim white-ball head coach, ahead of McCullum combining the roles in the new year.
There remains no place for Hartley, who has not added to his international caps since the Test tour of India, which he finished as England's leading wicket-taker with 22 dismissals. He was a non-playing member of the T20 World Cup squad in the Caribbean, but was subsequently overlooked for the T20I and ODI series against Australia.
Chohan's selection also presents a challenge to Rehan Ahmed, who was presumed to be the heir apparent to Rashid. The Leicestershire legspinner has 17 international caps to his name but hopes to add to that this month, having travelled with the Test squad on Tuesday to Pakistan, where he made his debut two years ago.
Rehan, 20, could yet challenge Chohan in the Caribbean with that squad due to be supplemented with two players from the Test tour. A decision on who will travel across will be made after selection for the third and final Test in Rawalpindi, which begins on October 24 - a week before the first ODI in Antigua. Hull, who picked up a season-ending quad injury on Test debut, could also be considered if fully recovered.
As expected, Jos Buttler will slot back in as captain following a calf injury, and is set to make his first competitive appearance since the T20 World Cup semi-final defeat to India at the end of June. However, a decision on whether he keeps wicket will be made nearer the time. Phil Salt is the only viable stand-in in the original 14-man squad, although both Jordan Cox and Jamie Smith are potential inclusions from the Pakistan Test party.
England limited-overs squad: Jos Buttler (capt), Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Jafer Chohan, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Dan Mousley, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid , Phil Salt, Reece Topley, John Turner
Itinerary1st ODI: Antigua, October 31 2nd ODI: Antigua, November 2 3rd ODI: Barbados, November 6
1st T20I: Barbados, November 92nd T20I: Barbados, November 103rd T20I: St Lucia, November 144th T20I: St Lucia, November 165th T20I: St Lucia, November 17
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