Not surprisingly, much attention has been paid to some high-profile signings for Middlesex this year. Kane Williamson, of course, tops the bill, but other arrivals including Josh Little, Dane Paterson and Zafar Gohar all testify to the county’s ambitions for the season.
Middlesex are a club that has a well-honed discovery and development programme. In any sport, whilst the marquee signings grab eyeballs, sustainable development comes from the ability to find and nurture talent.
Our Guerilla Cricket 2025 pre – season player interviews therefore start not with New Zealand’s all-time leading test run scorer from Tauranga, but with 19 year old Aaryan Sawant from Harrow on the Hill. Not just because this writer went to school where Aaryan was born, although that was a good start point for our discussion.
I should perhaps also point out that the great Kane Williamson has yet to arrive in the country, but the principle above is still sound.
From joining Middlesex at 10 to an England Under 19 Hundred
Aaryan has been at Middlesex since the age of ten, made his Second XI debut at 15 and as a graduate of the Middlesex EPG (Emerging Players Group) programme has now signed his first professional contract. It’s seems that Middlesex’s faith in Aaryan is well founded.
This winter, he has grabbed attention in more ways than one, playing for England U19s in Cape Town. Firstly, for a terrific matching winning 130 in the second Youth Test. Watched by both his mother and sister, this was, said Aaryan, “probably the most satisfying moment of my life”. Notably, he spent six hours at the crease compiling it, which demonstrates not just a hunger for run scoring but also a welcome talent for stickability, built on solid technique. “I just love being in the middle and one of my strengths is the ability to knuckle down” said Aaryan, which is, he added “more fun than watching”.
The other attention-grabbing moment was his extraordinary dismissal in the first Test. If you have not seen it, then you can watch it here.
“I was on 11 and got a sweep away. It looked like 4 and suddenly I was out” he recalled. Remarkable enough in itself, but for Aaryan, it proved to be the catalyst for the century that was to come. “Next game I’m going to get a big score” he had said in the dressing room having let his ire cool. And the rest was, indeed, history. Both he and I struggled to say the name of the lad off whom the ball rebounded, but it is fair to say that Jorich van Schalwyk was very much the co-star of the video that went viral.
So, will this be the season to break through for Aaryan I asked?
“I had a great year in the Seconds last year, hit my stride and found out what worked in red ball cricket. But if the chance comes, I want to be ready to take it”. Aaryan had notched his first century for the Second Eleven in Championship cricket, when hitting an unbeaten hundred against Hampshire at Radlett in April, before hitting 70 in his very next game against Essex, and then knocks of 72 in the first innings and a match winning unbeaten 173* in the second innings against Yorkshire.
In three Second Eleven Championship matches, he hit a staggering 436 runs, with two hundreds, two fifties, at an extraordinary average of 145.33.
So, what was it that clicked last year I wondered. Again, a tale of dedication and application unfolds. “Off the pitch I trained more and with more purpose” and was in a “better state of mind when playing U18 cricket” he said.” I feel I can ‘step up’ when the bowling is higher quality” he added.
The Kohli qualities that have inspired Aaryan
As for Aaryan’s biggest influences, he was very quick to pay tribute to has Dad and to Mark Lane at the Middlesex Academy, who “had made a few tinkers when I was 15 and after that I really kicked on”. This led to a question as to who Aaryan most admired in cricket. The answer was none other than Virat Kohli. However, tellingly, it is Kohli’s dedication and work ethic that has most impressed Aaryan.
If he can bring Kohli like qualities to Middlesex, then Aaryan’s hopes for the season could well be achieved and more besides. They are, he said, “for a successful year for the club and for me to push into the first team” adding, “if I can cement a place there, even better. As to batting position “ideally top four, but wherever the team needs me,” thinking that he may not bat ahead of Williamson just yet.
If things do work out as planned – and with the level of talent and particularly dedication he has shown so far it just might, then Aaryan Sawant is set to scale peaks in the game far higher than that of Harrow’s famous hill.
Listen to the full interview with Aaryan here:
