Derbyshire batsman tries for acting career

Former Derbyshire batsman Hamza Siddique is forging a new career as an actor with the help of the Professional Cricketers' Association.

The 24-year-old, who had two seasons on Derbyshire's staff and played three first-class matches for Cardiff MCCU, is currently completing a one-year Masters degree in acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Siddique's course has been part-funded by the PCA as part of the Association's Personal Development and Welfare Programme educational funding.

The PCA have also part-funded a short film 'Glow' which Siddique and three other students have just written and filmed as part of their final assignment.

Siddique stars in the film as Elijah, who is taken to see the Northern Lights by his friends after he has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. The film will be shown at festivals around the country which Siddique hopes will help him land acting jobs when he completes the course later this year.

"Ultimately this project is going to be shown at festivals and going to be a massive kick-start to our careers as actors," Siddique said

"The PCA's willingness to help out with the funding was a massive help to us and we are very appreciative of their support.

"We are now in the process of meeting with agents. We had our final showcase a few weeks ago and agents came to watch. That is what it is all about, getting an agent and starting to get paid professional jobs in acting."

Siddique studied philosophy and theology at Cardiff and only decided to switch to acting after he was released by Derbyshire three years ago.

"From the age of nine all I had wanted to do was to play cricket. I got contracted to Derbyshire at 19 and it was amazing," he said.

"But I did feel there was a gap in my life and, for one reason and another, I felt that I needed to try something else. "I studied philosophy and theology at Cardiff and played on the MCCU scheme there but I started thinking that I would really like to give this media thing a go.

"I decided to give it a really good crack. I stopped playing cricket for a while to give acting a go. The whole thing was pretty alien to me. I locked myself in my room and put my cricket stuff away and learned some Shakespeare monologues and some more contemporary pieces and auditioned to a number of drama schools

"I had never done drama at school or acted so I had no idea what it meant to get into one of these drama schools To me it was: 'wow, this is different to facing 90mph balls coming at my head.'

"I thought: 'great, let's give it a go and see what happens'. It was only when I realised that people were flying in from South Africa and India for a 40 minute audition that I realised what a big deal it was."

Siddique opted for a place at Central, an acting school that includes Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones), Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) and Andrew Garfield (Spiderman) among its recent alumni.

Although he initially struggled with aspects of acting, Siddique has found that his experiences in professional cricket have helped him in his new career.

"I am actually writing an essay for my thesis titled In What Way Does Conditioning Inhibit an Actor's Ability to be Spontaneous?," Siddique said.

"It's amazing how conditioning , nurture and my sporting environment massively hindered me early on because when you are playing sport at the top level you are taught not to be vulnerable and to have this self-assurance and to absolutely back your skills.

"But starting drama school was something bizarre to me because whatever emotions you have been taught to shut off in front of people you have to get rid of. There were times in class when I struggled with that early on.

"To have to portray emotions to people in a classroom I found really tough but the dedication, the commitment and the work is absolutely comparable to that of professional sport. If you do not put in the hours you will not get the best out of it.

"But I feel like I am a step ahead and I felt a step going into it because of cricket. Because of what I learnt in a team environment and the pressure of going out to bat on my first-class debut for Cardiff MCCU I have no qualms about going out and pretending to be someone else.

"The stakes in professional sport are comparable to very little else. The things that go through your head, what it means to each person, the preparation that goes into the competition it's a really great thing and I am really grateful to the part cricket played in helping me in this industry."