(2005/06) Sri Lankan star goes in to bat for Valleys

Moonee Valley's 2005/06 Sri Lankan import Arosha Perera (right) is welcomed to Ormond Park by club captain/coach Tony Marasco.

SRI LANKAN STAR GOES IN TO BAT FOR VALLEYS

Moonee Valley Cricket Club’s high-profile Sri Lankan import has taken to the field with an immediate impact, after a season start delayed by international duties in England.
 
Arosha Perera, 25, was with his Sri Lankan club team, Chilaw Marians, playing in the International 20-20 club championships, where his side made the finals against Pakistan’s Faisalabad Wolves.
 
In his first game for Moonee Valley was the 2005/06 Round 3 fixture against Aberfeldie Park in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association, where Perera made a hard-hitting and fluent 40 before being run out in a mix-up.
 
An elegant right-hand bat, Perera made a defiant 30 playing for Kandy against the touring West Indian team three months earlier, scoring runs against Test stars Tino Best and Dwayne Smith.
 
As a useful leg-break bowler and with a first class top score of 201 not out, Perera will bolster the Moonee Valley team under captain-coach Tony Marasco.
 
His stay at Moonee Valley is being sponsored by Ascot Vale’s Union Hotel.
 
Perera has played with or against most of the Sri Lankan Test stars, and rates the outcomes of his tussles with champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan as “not bad” – not getting out to him too often.
 
An exciting prospect on the fringes of the Test squad, Perera has made the Sri Lanka A side – but had to withdraw with a hand injury.
 
He was again trying out for Sri Lanka A this year and made the Western Province team when he was sidelined with a hand fracture.
 
Perera then decided to try his luck in Australia to score some runs and put his name back in front of the selectors, and chose to join the progressive Moonee Valley Cricket Club.
 
“There are good people here, and I hope to be good for the team,” he said.

(November 2005)