2025 was also a breakthrough season for Glamorgan’s young opening batter Asa Tribe who, like his good friend Ben Kellaway, progressed from being a student cricketer into a full-time professional, besides being chosen for the England Lions party for the visit to Australia, and being touted for a place in the senior England team.
In all, Asa amassed 731 first-class runs at an average of 45 during 2025, with his tally including his maiden Championship hundred against Leicestershire at Grace Road in a remarkable innings which saw the 21 year-old fend off the home county’s bowlers who at the time had taken the Foxes to the top of the table, besides fighting a nasty gastric bug which saw him return to the team’s hotel shortly after being dismissed for 107 and spending the next 60 hours or so in isolation.
Later in the season, Asa became the first Jersey-born batter to score a double hundred in the County Championship as he scored 206 against Northamptonshire with his record-breaking innings coming during a purple patch during late August and early September where, for both Glamorgan and Jersey, he completed a sequence of 733 runs from 799 balls, striking an astonishing 85 fours and 11 sixes. His prolific spell duly attracted the attention of the England selectors as well as the Paarl Royals franchise in the South African IT20 competition and, on the day of his maiden double-hundred at Northampton, Asa was picked up by the franchise for R200,000 and, following his time with the England Lions party in Australia, he duly spent late December and January 2026 further showcasing his talents in white-ball cricket.
Having already played in international cricket for his native Jersey, Asa first played for Glamorgan 2nd XI, whilst at Cardiff Met. in 2023 and during the season scored 164 against Northamptonshire’s second string at Milton Keynes, plus an unbeaten 126 against Gloucestershire 2nd XI at Rockhampton as he became become Glamorgan’s Second Eleven Player of the Year. Asa duly made his 1st XI debut for Glamorgan during July 2024 in the NCCA Showcase match against Wiltshire at Swindon, with the right-hander making an unbeaten 93, as he helped to guide the Welsh county to a seven-wicket victory in the 50-over friendly. A few weeks later, he made his List A debut for Glamorgan against Gloucestershire in their Metro Bank One-Day Cup game, with his razor-sharp fielding catching the eye, especially in the semi-final against Warwickshire at Sophia Gardens.
In August 2024 Asa made his County Championship debut for Glamorgan against Leicestershire at Sophia Gardens with Jerseyman playing some impressive innings in the middle-order, before being promoted up the order and, during the final block of County Championship matches, opening the batting. Despite having no previous experience of being at the top of the order, Asa made a pair of assured half-centuries.
2025 began with Asa scoring an unbeaten 203 opening the batting against Gloucestershire 2nd XI at Sophia Gardens, before making a fine 94 in the Rothesay County Championship match against Kent at Canterbury. A month later, he celebrated news that he had achieved a first-class degree in his Finals at Cardiff Met by posting his maiden first-class hundred against Leicestershire at Grace Road and, despite being under the weather, showed great composure with a series of flowing drives through the covers as well as mid-on and mid-off.
With Glamorgan’s selection committee giving youth its head in the Vitality T20 Blast competition, Asa also shone both in the middle-order of their batting line-up, as well as in the field, with the youngster sharing a match-winning stand with Dan Douthwaite against Middlesex in the opening game at Merchant Taylors’ School, prior to scoring an unbeaten 63 from just 28 balls against Gloucestershire at Bristol, with 5 fours and 5 massive sixes as the Welsh county overwhelmed a despondent West Country team by 40 runs.
He then enjoyed a purple patch during late August, with back-to-back and unbeaten centuries in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup games against Worcestershire at New Road and with Leicestershire at Cardiff. He then spent a few days again on duty with Jersey and struck 175 against Papua New Guinea at the St. Martin’s ground before posting another unbeaten half-century against Qatar at St. Saviour’s. This was duly followed by his maiden double-hundred at Northampton as Glamorgan resumed their big push for promotion. He reached his coveted landmark by flicking Justin Broad to the boards at square-leg before being bowled by Luke Procter 206.
As impressive as this innings was at Wantage Road, perhaps the most important one Asa played during 2025 was at Old Trafford against Lancashire and England legend Jimmy Anderson. Asa made 61 and calmly negated the wiles of Anderson as well as Tom Bailey, with his name going into the notebooks of several journalists as an opener who could press for a place on the England Lions tour. His success throughout 2025, and especially at Old Trafford, also stemmed from many hours of practice in the Indoor School at Sophia Gardens besides further honing his technique with former Glamorgan opener Steve James. As Steve recalled “in his early career, Asa’s back-lift had veered towards gully a little too easily, meaning that he could come across the ball, but he has worked that kink out of his pick-up and has adapted superbly to playing the new ball. He stands still at the crease, without any trigger movement, which is unusual, but emphasizes the straightforwardness that characterizes his batting. He is a natural run-scorer, which might sound an obvious and desirable trait, but in these days of T20 pyrotechnic and match-winning cameos, not all batters possess that deep love of scoring runs again and again.”
Asa’s hard work paid off as, during mid-September, he received news that he had been chosen, alongside Ben Kellaway, in the England Lions party for the tour to Australia. At first though, Asa was not sure whether the phonecall from Lions coach Freddie Flintoff was genuine following a series of missed calls between the two, with the former England and Lancashire all-rounder initially ringing Asa when he was fielding. As Asa recalled “I had to check because I didn’t have Freddie’s number saved, so I had to check that it was definitely him, and that took a couple of goes before I recognized his voice. Then I was mightily stoked and really happy because I had spoken at lunch to Ben who earlier in the morning had also found out about his selection for the tour.”
Asa admitted that he never believed that he would get to where he is now with a regular berth in a county side, contracts with T20 franchises in the Paarl Royals plus the Atlanta Kings in the National Cricket League in Dallas, as well as a place in the England Lions team. All in the space of a year “Looking back, if you told me at the start of 2025 when I was with the Cardiff UCCE team about where I am now, I’d still be surprised. I think everything has led up to this point and my selection for the England squad and its not just that run of good form but also the periods of poor form where I’ve made a lot of learning and adjustments to my technique and training regime. It’s the periods of good form that have got me noticed but the entire journey has got me into the Lions party. It’s going to be a huge challenge but it’s one to which I’m really looking forward.”
After a brief spell in Dallas playing in the National Cricket League, Asa duly joined up with the rest of the England Lions party in Australia and in the match at Canberra against the Prime Minister’s XI, he made an unbeaten 53 and shared a match-winning stand with Somerset’s James Rew as the Lions won by eight wickets. Ben Kellaway also played in the match at Canberra as, for the first time since Jim McConnon in 1954/55, Glamorgan had representation in this traditional and historic fixture in the Australian cricketing calendar. A week later, Asa became the first Glamorgan batter since David Hemp in 1994/95 in the friendly between England A and Bangladesh, to score a century for England’s second string as he made 129* in the second innings against Australia A at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane. Some standout innings for the Paarl Royals in their T20 competition drew further attention to the abilities of the bespectacled batter, before two further half-centuries for the England Lions in their truncated series against the Pakistan Shaheens in Abu Dhabi, early in 2026, meant that the young batter went into the 2026 domestic season as one of the brightest emerging batters on the county scene.