General News
14 November, 2019
Second import on deck for Lakers
CAMPERDOWN Cricket Club is hoping the arrival of Sri Lankan Kasun Niranjana fills the missing piece of their puzzle.
CAMPERDOWN Cricket Club is hoping the arrival of Sri Lankan Kasun Niranjana fills the missing piece of their puzzle.
The Lakers are quietly confident the 29 year-old wicketkeeper-batsman can help them end a seven year finals hiatus in South West Cricket’s top grade.
Niranjana arrived on Australian soil last weekend and will line up for his club debut against Simpson tomorrow (Saturday).
He comes to Camperdown with first class experience from Army Sport Club in his native country, featuring for his club in 21 first class, List A and Twenty20 matches.
Niranjana has a simple goal for his maiden Aussie summer, wanting to help the Lakers back into the finals.
He said he wanted to play a key role for the Lakers both on and off-field, adding his first class experience would help him with the mental side of the Lakers’ matches.
“I expect to bat throughout the innings and I want to be a good wicketkeeper for the Camperdown Cricket Club,” Niranjana said.
“I want to get everyone together as a tight-knit group in the hope of us winning more matches.
“I want to give 100 per cent to us taking out the championship (premiership) this year.”
Niranjana said he had settled in well to his new surroundings and said he cannot wait to make lifelong memories with a new group of friends.
“I’d just like to have a good time this season with everyone,” he said.
“So far my time in Australia has been good and the people around here have really welcomed me.”
Camperdown president Jordan Riches said the club was looking forward to unveiling Niranjana against the Tigers.
He said his addition, along with that of Shaluka Silva’s, would strengthen the Lakers’ line-up.
“He fills a void we’ve been missing as an aggressive opening bat and as a keeper,” Riches said.
“He’ll bring a lot of experience to our young guys, they both will, which will be really beneficial for their development.
“Seeing the impact Shaluka has had in one game, we’re hopeful Kasun can have a similar impact.
“His arrival will allow us to field a full strength team this weekend, so hopefully we can cap off his debut with a win.”
The Lakers are looking to put their first win of the season on the board in a year riddled with wash-outs in the clash at S.A. Wright Oval.
Riches said his side was unsure how Simpson would play given they had yet to feature this season.
“I guess we have to come in thinking we can win so we have to make sure we play our best cricket,” Riches said.
“Knowing we nearly knocked off one of the top teams last week we feel we can take it up to anyone.
“We specifically need to win this week given the wash outs, we need those important early wins.”
But he backed in his players to get the job done following an encouraging performance against Pomborneit last weekend.
“We had a good start getting three quick ones (wickets) but Lahiru Fernando and Tom Place put on a pretty good partnership,” Riches said.
“We thought if we could break that partnership we could really open them up but Larry batted fantastically.
“We batted well too I thought, Sarge (Craig Sargeant) got us off to a good start along with Harry Sumner and Shaluka chipped in with 40 in the middle of the innings.
“Knowing we took it up to the reigning premiers, we’re confident we can take it up to anyone.”