A TOP amateur cricketer has been jailed after police raided his home and found class A drugs worth nearly £50,000.

Sagawat Hussain, who has played for a number of East Lancashire cricket teams, played a ‘key role’ in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine on Accrington’s streets.

Officers found 686g of heroin and 94g of crack cocaine, at the 24-year-old’s home in Mansion Street South.

The drugs were stored in dozens of bags in the attic and a garden shed, along with more than £2,000 cash, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Hussain, who was selected to play first team cricket at the age of 14 and most recently played for Enfield, admitted two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply. He was jailed for four years.

The court heard he was ‘an intelligent young man’ who had risen to become assistant manager at a bank branch, before his family became worried about his ‘western lifestyle’.

He was forced into an arranged marriage in Pakistan, but this fell apart when the couple returned to Lancashire, and he felt obliged to leave the family home, the court was told.

Jeremy Lasker, defending, said his family had not forgiven him over the marriage and he started to take drugs and racked up significant debts with a group of dealers.

Mr Lasker said: “The group supplied accommodation, but he didn’t realise there were strings attached, that where he lived would be used to store drugs.

“He was doing his best to withdraw from it but finding it very difficult.”

Mr Lasker accepted his client was motivated by money, but said there was also evidence of ‘pressure or intimidation’, and he had no influence on ‘those above him in the chain’.

He told the judge: “It’s a very sad case. It’s sad because your honour is going to have to send to prison for some time, a young man who is intelligent, who’s showed a good deal of promise in education, and other regards.

“But through a number of events unrelated and not perhaps of his making he fell into a drug scene and ended up getting involved in this serious case.”

Judge Jonathan Gibson told him: “Class A drugs cause misery and untold damage to people’s lives and I’m sure you as a user will understand that only too well. It is plainly right that anyone with that amount of drugs in their possession should go to jail.”

Robin Bracewell, vice-chair of Enfield Cricket Club, where Hussain played since 2011, said: “He was banned from the club in accordance with our club policy. We’ve got zero tolerance of drugs, and if any player gets involved in it then they don’t play for Enfield.

“We are just really sorry it’s come to this because it puts a bad reflection on cricket.”

Rod Kenyon, chair of Accrington Cricket Club, where Hussain played from 2003 - 2006, said: “He was a talented cricketer as a youngster and it’s just a shame it’s turned out like this.

“He could have gone on to better things if he’d kept out of trouble. I don’t have any sympathy for anyone who deals in drugs, I think they deserve what they get.”

Detective Inspector Mark Winstanley said: “Hussain played a key role in the supply of significant amount of class a drugs in Accrington and beyond.

“We know the devastating impact drugs can have on our communities and we will continue to do everything we can to remove them from our neighbourhoods.”

The court heard Hussain, who also played at junior level for Lancashire County Cricket Club, had no previous convictions.