England Lions duo Max Holden and Zaman Akhter underline success of Cambridge St Giles Cricket Club’s youth section during India A fixture

Cambridge St Giles Cricket Club has been celebrating the success of its youth section – both at international and at a more local level.

During last week’s four-day contest at Canterbury, former St Giles players Max Holden and Zaman Akhter impressed for England Lions in their draw with India A.

Holden, pictured, who now plays his county cricket for Middlesex, scored a century during an innings that featured 12 fours and one maximum on his way to a run-a-ball 101.

Gloucestershire’s Akhter, meanwhile, finished with bowling figures of 3-73 during India A’s first innings.

And the performances of the Cambridge-born pair were the source of great pride for St Giles, where the duo spent their formative years.

Club chairman John Phelps said: “Youth sections are something I feel very strongly about.

“They’re vital to all sports teams but especially in cricket because it feels like fewer and fewer clubs are able to run them these days. So when you see two players that came through our club enjoy such big success, that’s worth celebrating.

“Zaman played a couple of seasons for our first team when he was 15 or 16 and always looked a real talent.

“As for Max, I always thought he’d go all the way from the moment I saw him playing for the first time at the age of 10. It would not surprise me to see him one day get the chance at either Test or ODI level with England.”

And the strength of the club’s youth set-up was also on display closer to home at the weekend.

Zach Winslow scored a century against Kent for the Cambridgeshire Youth Cricketer’s Under-14s, while pace bowling prospect Gabriel Harter registered figures of 5-9 against Suffolk Under-13s.

“We’ve got lots of lads and girls that look like they’re going to develop into very talented cricketers,” added Phelps.

“Some of them are just nine or 10 years old, but you can already see the potential.

“Right now we have around 160 boys and girls registered to the club, so we’re very active with lots of people that are willing to help out with coaching.

“We’ve also had the likes of Noah Thain, who is now with Essex, and his brother Reuben is in the academy at Essex as well and I’m sure he’ll go far.

“The youth section is a very important part of our club and we always enjoy seeing the juniors go on to become very accomplished cricketers at numerous levels.”