This is the kind of good news story that we all need. It is always a delight to see real talent at such an early age, but when it comes in the guise of a leg-spin bowler and is combined with an endless enthusiasm, it’s then that it needs to be nurtured and celebrated. In today’s plentiful world it is getting less and less common for a young person to find solace in a wooden bat and a leather ball, but this lad has the boundless energy and guile required to excel.
Rohan ‘Ronnie’ Handa is a 12 year old leg spin all-rounder. He was born in Sydney, Australia and moved back to Winchester, England as a four year old. He took up cricket two years later and joined Twyford Cricket Club, where he picked up club awards each of the four years he was with them. A main highlight at the club was a hat-trick maiden in a cup match in the 2018/2019 season. He was with Hampshire County Central since the age of seven and then a family move to Surrey in 2019 saw Rohan move to Hartley Wintney Cricket Club, Hampshire County North and Rajasthan Royals UK Academy u12s.
“Rohan is an extremely talented boy and is working really hard to improve his skills.....I am excited that he is someone who we want to monitor and is showing all the promise.” SID LAHIRI - Academy Director at Rajasthan Royals UK Academy.
It has been during the lockdown period in England that Rohan has shown his real commitment. He completed a junior cricket wellbeing and activity programme with the Australian Cricket Institute (ACI) over zoom.
"Rohan was a great addition to our online wellbeing programme that we ran in the lockdown in Australia.... A true testament to his commitment of becoming a better player is the fact that most of these sessions were held outside of England's ideal time zones. This didn't phase Rohan as he was still up and about and continuing to better his game. Rohan was a pleasure to have all the way through the programme" JOEL HAMILTON – Co-founder of Australian Cricket Institute.
More impressively he developed some training clips which he shared with his school and club cricket peers called 'Cricket Nuggets with Rohan Handa'. This initiative was rewarded when Sky Sports Cricket featured him during their Coaching Clinic during the 3rd test match between England v West Indies.
His cricket idols are an international blend of Ben Stokes, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Rashid Khan and his cricketing mentor is Alfonso Thomas;
“Ive worked with Ronnie for a while now and his passion, willingness to learn and enjoyment for the game is second to none. I’m looking forward to continue my relationship with him and to help him to achieve his goals.” ALFONSO THOMAS - Ex Somerset CCC cricketer and now Assistant Coach at Hampshire CCC.
Rohan is a junior brand ambassador for Chase Cricket, Payntr and www.bradboy.com.au.
Personally, I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Rohan in the future and can’t wait to see him come through the County ranks. Fingers crossed for his future and I want to bottle his enthusiasm and help him to spread it through his age group across the country.
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