Sri Lankan Sachin Jayawardena will play club cricket for Taradale this summer. Photo / Paul Taylor.
Sri Lankan Sachin Jayawardena will play club cricket for Taradale this summer. Photo / Paul Taylor.
With a name like his, Sachin Jayawardena was always destined to be a cricketer.
The Sri Lankan batting allrounder arrived in Hawke’s Bay on Thursday and will make his premier men’s club cricket debut when new club Taradale meets Napier Technical Old Boys, at Nelson Park on Saturday.
“That wasmy father and mother naming me after Sachin Tendulkar,’’ Jayawardena said.
He’s no relation, however, to former Central Stags star Mahela Jayawardene. The spelling probably gives that away.
This is the 28-year-old top-order batter and left-arm orthodox bowler’s first time in New Zealand, although he does have one notable connection to this country.
“I think it was Dan Vettori. I got [Brendon] McCullum out, like, three times, but Dan Vettori just kept sweeping me and smashing me down the ground, because I’m a left-arm spinner and I was turning it into him.
“He knew how to play me.’’
Jayawardena comes to Hawke’s Bay from England, where he was the overseas professional for a club in the Lancashire Premier League.
Ordinarily, he’d now be playing first-class cricket in Sri Lanka, where the major domestic competitions usually run from October to March. This year it’s June until November, meaning a change of plans for Jayawardena and other players of his ilk.
That includes bowling-allrounder Vinodh Perera, who’ll play for Cornwall this season once some final visa issues are sorted out.
As an age-group international, Sachin Jayawardena bowled to the Black Caps. Photo / Paul Taylor.
Unlike New Zealand, where first-class cricket is played by major associations such as Central Districts, it’s a club-based system in Sri Lanka.
Perera is a player Jayawardena knows well, having been both teammates and opponents back home.
“We played for the same first-class team [Bloomfield Cricket Club] in 2016 and 2017. That’s the club where Sanath Jayasuriya plied his trade when he was playing for Sri Lanka.
“He [Perera] is a decent allrounder. He bowls right-arm fast and bats middle order. He’s a good cricketer.
“When I scored my first first-class century he was playing for a different club and I think I scored my 100th run against him.’’
