Regina Saddahazai Khan - Italian cricket star

Regina Saddahazai Khan has just completed her A-levels but that isn’t the reason Burgess Hill Girls’ School got in touch with us. We might bang on about the home nations in sport but the UK is a diverse country and we know that some girls might have the opportunity to play for another country to which they’re linked, which is what happened to Regina.

Regina’s dad is Kashmiri whilst her mum is half-Belgian, half-Italian. Regina went from club and county cricketer to playing for the women’s Italian side! Read about how it came about and what the future holds.

How did you make it into a non-UK national team? How were you spotted?

This is actually a rather funny story! I was playing men's cricket for my club Roffey CC against another team within our league. There was a man playing for that club who was a part of the men's Italian cricket team and during their batting innings, he was helping his teammate practice his Italian on the side of the pitch.

The man turned around to my mum who was scoring and apologised for his scratchy Italian and distracting my mum from her. He then asked if I was her daughter as I had performed quite well that game (we won and got promoted as this was the battle of who was to get promoted to the higher league!! Big game!!)

The conversation then led to him asking if I had an Italian passport (yes!) and then conversations started with the female national team for me to go on and play cricket there!

Can you describe how it felt playing on the international stage?

It was the most incredible feeling. Since a child I've always wanted to be able to perform on a stage like the European Cricket Network and I got to do so, and gratefully I had the opportunity to play well!

It's surreal to get to experience this as a player, especially as my father was involved in managing the USA cricket team so hearing stories as a child of his travels and ICC tournaments that he was involved with, created dreams to one day experience this myself.

I've all of a sudden been given a platform and although in Sussex as a county I've always had major cricketing connections (as I've played here so long), being known halfway across the world in places like India and Bangladesh has been insane and I still try to get my head around it.

Dealing with hate has also become something I've recently got to experience and that has been a strange feeling but I'm so lucky to have awesome parents and incredible friends to get me through it.

I'm so excited to be involved with the team and finally get to play my first ICC European World Cup Qualifier next week (in May 2023 when this was written). I do feel like I am proof that hard work and belief in your dreams does work, and this is only the start! It's been a long journey already with so many stories and I'm looking forward to what is to come!!

How did club/county cricket prepare you (resilience, match strategy etc)?

My dad has always been a massive inspiration as well as being my coach since I started cricket at the age of 6. He's always helped me with technique, however before this tournament I had a big lack of confidence which he really helped me improve just by having casual conversations on the game and helping me get over some setbacks I experienced.

I also received support from my head of PE at Burgess Hill Girls, Miss Clapp who had ‘been there and done that’ with hockey. Not only is she an inspiration but she really has helped me in terms of helping me realise I do belong and deserve my spot in the county squad as well as the international stage.

I'm also extremely lucky to have the most supportive clubs and county behind me. Roffey CC and Ansty Ladies are clubs I've grown up with and they are like family! Everyone involved has truly been so supportive whether just words of encouragement or viewership of the games on YouTube. After my debut, I really was overwhelmed by the wonderful messages I received from my teammates, classmates, teachers, friends and family.

I've also been in the Sussex pathway since I was 11, getting to make my women's debut last year. I do know the standard I play in England for both the clubs and the county is better than other European countries which is just due to the lack of the development of European cricket (however this is MAJORLY on the rise and I'm excited to be a part of it).

I have a lot of match experience, in the summer playing around 50 matches per season - an area for improvement in the European game.

What are your hopes for your future in cricket?

I want to see how far Italia cricket can go as I truly believe we have a strong team which can go very far in the upcoming European World Cup Qualifiers.

However, franchise cricket is where I ultimately want to go! Female franchises are growing around the world and now having that associate level status, it makes it easier for me to try and get to those franchise stages such as the WPL, WBBL or the upcoming Female PCL; I am of half Kashmiri descent and would love to get involved with the growing cricket out there! I want to get the chance to learn from these professional players you see on TV and aspire to play with (And slowly I'm already getting the chance to!).

Also, if not just playing cricket, I would love to get into the media aspect of it. Making random videos in the nets with my friends or even getting to commentate during the ECN tournament! I would love to be involved with it and truly do love it all.