By Charles Randall

22 October 2014

Guidance from the former Lancashire spinner Gary Keedy led to a dream trip to India for one of his team-mates at Rishton CC in the Lancashire League. Fellow left-armer Ali Sartaj came through as a winner of the Club Cricket Conference's spin scholarship, sponsored by Kingfisher Beer.

Ali and Zoravar Singh, a big-spinning 'leggie' at Old Bristolians-Westbury CC, were awarded the dream trip to India - a week at the Global Cricket School in Pune - after a day of assessment in Birmingham on 28 September. The number of nominated players topped 130 this year, and such a huge number had to be reduced to the usual short list of 36 through each cricket CV.

Both former county age-group players, Ali and Zoravar impressed the judges Min Patel, the former Kent and England left-arm spinner, and Shaaiq Choudhry, of Worcestershire, at the Edgbaston cricket school. The qualities required went further than bowling skill; an ability to think and adapt was needed, backed by good ability in batting.

Ali, 20, a Manchester University neuro-science student from Blackburn, entered the spin competition two years ago. “The first thing I noticed this time,” he said, “was that the standard was so much higher.” But at least the left-armer knew his bowling had improved, with Keedy as club professional. He finished as Rishton's leading league wicket-taker in 2014. “Gary gave me lots of tips and improved my action,” he said. “I try to get batsmen out with use of pace and variation, and his advice helped a lot with that.”

Zoravar, 19, admitted he was surprised to reach the short list, as was co-winner Ali. “I thought I had no chance,” he said, “but I thought I would see what the other spinners were like and take what I could back to the club. I'm always optimistic in cricket and in my life. I told myself 'don't be too conservative and don't regret anything'. It was a great experience, and the coaches were fantastic with us on the day.”

Zoravar, an apprentice surveyor with Bristol City Council, made the interesting decision during the summer to play club second team cricket to gain more batting experience, and his improvement in that discipline clearly paid off during the scholarship assessment. The response among friends and family to his success was “all very overwhelming”.

Thanks to Kingfisher Beer's generosity for four years, the scholarship event has caught the imagination and helped support spin-bowling, a fragile discipline for up-and-coming players. The commitment and enthusiasm shown by all the would-be winners on the scholarship day at Edgbaston was heart-warming. The Pune trip is likely to start in January or February.