Alex Russell took four wickets for the 2XI but three quick wickets late in the day put the South Asian Cricket Academy on the front foot by the end of Day One at Overstone Park CC.

The 2XI won the toss and elected to bowl first, with it proving to be the correct call early on.

On his return from England U19 duty, Raphael Weatherall struck twice in the opening five overs, forcing outside edges from Savin Perera and Rohan Mehmi to leave the SACA 9/2.

SACA recovered well as Zen Malik and Arav Shetty put on a strong third wicket stand to guide the side to 115/2 by Lunch. The pair put on another 40 runs after lunch to bring their partnership to 143 before Malik was dismissed for 71 after clipping one straight to Justin Broad on the leg side.

Broad then came into the attack and into the wickets as he bowled Vikai Kelly with a delivery that sent leg stump flying out the ground.

Russell picked up his first wicket of the game in the 58th over as he bowled Amrit Basra for 14 as SACA found themselves 212-5.

Russell also took the next wicket as he removed Arav Shetty six runs before his century, brilliantly finding one to spin past the bat and knock back off stump.

Simon Kerrigan followed up with a wicket in the next over, as the spinner dismissed Roshan Balaji after he hit one straight to Ethan Rice at cover.

It proved to be a productive afternoon session for the 2XI, taking five wickets as SACA went into Tea 252/7.

The batting side managed to put on 51 more runs, as Kerrigan dismissed Bilal and Russell removed Khan and Tahirkheli to finish off the SACA innings.

Russell finished with figures of 4/69 and the 2XI headed into their first innings 303 runs behind after a positive start to the evening session.

George Hargrave and Hassan Azad opened up for the 2XI with less than 15 overs left of play on Day One.

The bowling side made use of the trickier batting conditions late in the day as Hishaam Khan took three wickets in the seven overs he bowled to leave the 2XI 27/3 by the end of play, with Hassan Azad unbeaten on 20 and Alex Russell on 3.