The former England international has spoken frequently with SACA co-founder Tom Brown, whose research has informed both schemes from the start
Ebony Rainford-Brent has praised the work of the South Asian Cricket Academy after Arafat Bhuiyan became the initiative's seventh graduate to sign professional terms with a county in the space of a year.
Bhuiyan made his first-class debut for Kent on the same day as fellow products Zaman Akhter and Zain-ul-Hassan at Gloucestershire and Glamorgan, respectively.
Rainford-Brent, who founded the ACE Programme, has spoken frequently with SACA co-founder Tom Brown, whose research has informed both schemes from the start.
"Tom Brown's work is incredible," she told The Cricketer, while sat on the sofa in the Kia's Best Seats In The House at the Kia Oval. "A lot of his work and research helped to inform us at ACE on how we developed ACE.
"I think one thing that he talks about is the age at which we cut off being able to be a professional, and I think we kind of see it that if you haven't made it by 18 or 19, then you may have missed the boat. Whereas actually if you look at talent development and what is possible, early twenties is still a viable route.
"I think he's shown that there is a pool of talent where, just because our biases have an age limit on it, they are still capable of being a top-end pro. We have had to change some of our model, thinking about what Tom implements. The work that he does is brilliant because it has research behind it, and he looks at a bit more innovation than the way that we think in cricket. He has seen great results and has helped us to achieve very good results."
ACE director of programmes Chevy Green pictured with boxer Denzel Bentley (Getty Images)
Among those results for ACE, is the statistic that one in five youngsters from their academy are now making it onto county pathways. In January, it was revealed that six products of the system were joining Gloucestershire's youth structure, with two going to Somerset and another onto Wiltshire's pathway. The Cricketer also reported that Robbie Joseph's appointment as Gloucestershire's bowling coach had its roots in a chance meeting at an ACE session in Bristol.
ACE is now firmly established in the six core cities that it targeted from early on – with hubs now in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham – and has plans, according to Rainford-Brent, to "run smaller ACE versions" in "pockets" like Lewisham, Greenwich, Reading and Luton, where the programme does not currently reach.
"I think some of the interesting stuff for us was realising that 78 per cent of the schools that we went into have not had cricket before," she says, "so we realised we were getting into some interesting areas. It just shows, for me, how much talent is out there.
"We're just trying to double down now, so our next cycle is going to be about not necessarily going wider and wider but trying to get more impact and results.
"One of the interesting things that we were asked when we started ACE – from looking at all the stats – was why there weren't any young people from African-Caribbean backgrounds on any data. So, we thought it was maybe because the community was rejecting the sport, but actually what we found was that when you draw out the maps, there was just no delivery.
"So, once we went in to deliver, we found quite a quick uptake. They were just not offered cricket. Sometimes, it's decided where cricket goes to based on where the nearest cricket club is. If there is no cricket club, you don't build a programme around it. Lambeth doesn't have a junior club – look at the population and how close it is to certain communities."
The ACE Programme first came to fruition at the Kia Oval (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images for Surrey CCC)
Rainford-Brent is ACE's chair, but the day-to-day running of the programme has long been the work of Chevy Green – and that has become even more so the case since Rainford-Brent joined the ECB as a non-executive director, which joins her back up with Richard Thompson and Richard Gould, two of the programme's early champions when the pair were chair and chief executive at Surrey.
"I'm still on the board and I still want to have a really strong say on the vision, but it runs without me," she explains.
Based at the Kia Oval, ACE celebrated its third anniversary in January, with the programme reaching 10,000 kids – 87 per cent of whom had no previous exposure to the sport. Of those, 44 gained places in county pathways, 21 of which were previously unknown to the 'system' and would otherwise have been lost to the sport.
The success of ACE and new initiatives like this has Rainford-Brent hoping that by the end of a five-year cycle, the scheme might see a graduate representing their county for the first time.
"I think it's possible," she says. "I think there is a crop in the middle that is all in counties, and a couple of the older players are on the cusp."
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