By Marcus Uhe
Buckley Ridges Cricket Club have added a pair of international talents to their playing stocks for the upcoming DDCA season in their quest to go one-better than they have in the last two campaigns.
Sri Lankan test player Roshen Silva and emerging West Indian talent Kadeem Alleyne will both call Park Oval home in the 2023-24 season, the club announced over the weekend.
Silva played 12 test matches for Sri Lanka between 2017 and 2019, averaging 35, with one hundred and five fifties, and has compiled a stunning record in first class cricket with 9600 runs at an average just shy of 50.
The 34-year-old will bring a wealth of experience to Buckley Ridges having played in all types of conditions around the world, from England to New Zealand and all across the subcontinent.
By contrast, Alleyne is yet to consolidate a consistent spot in the West Indian first class scene but brings a reputation as a hard-hitting, seam bowling all-rounder.
The arrivals come in the wake of Mahela Udawatte’s decision to call Hallam Recreation Reserve home, having made the move from Buckley Ridges.
Udawatte played the last two seasons at Park Oval, hitting 572 runs at 41 in the 2021/22 season and 344 at 28.6 in 2022/23 in campaigns where his side fell short on grand final day on both occasions to Springvale South.
In a 10-year international career for Sri Lanka, the 36-year-old played two test matches, nine ODIs and eight T20s, averaging 35 in 169 first class games.
Hallam Kalora Park fell agonisingly short of a grand final berth in 2022/23, finishing third on the table before a four-wicket defeat at the hands of Springvale South in the preliminary final drew their season to a close.
His arrival adds to a formidable top-order featuring 2021/22 Alan Wookey medal winner Jordan Hammond, veteran Leigh Booth, and playing-coach Matthew Cox.
Booth finished third on the Wookey Medal vote count last season, plundering 434 runs from 11 matches in the home-and-away campaign to finish second for total runs behind Springvale South captain Ryan Quirk.
Cox will continue in his role as playing coach next season.
