By Marcus Uhe
Buckley Ridges’ star recruit Roshene Silva has hit the ground running in the DDCA with a brilliant century in his first complete innings for his new side.
Batting at number four, the former Sri Lankan test player hit 129 from 181 balls against North Dandenong at Park Oval to help his side register 9/324 in their 80 overs.
Silva added 121 with captain Jayson Hobbs to stabilise the innings after a brief stumble of 2/3 with the wickets of Jake Cronin and Ben Wright in short succession.
With the bowlers having snatched the momentum and getting the ball to move in the air, Silva said that patience was the key to his innings in the unfamiliar conditions.
“I’d been playing long innings so I knew I had to stay there and get comfortable,” Silva said.
“When it was tough I had to work harder mentally.
“At the start they bowled really well and there was more bounce, but everyone’s been telling me that the Buckley wicket is really flat.
“It was flat, but there was something for the bowlers as well.
“It got easier as the innings went on, but at the start it wasn’t very easy.”
Uniquely for innings on the tiny confides of Park Oval, Silva did not clear the boundary once but hit 16 fours in the stellar performance.
The 34-year-old wasn’t seduced by the temptation of maximums, however, as his instincts took-over.
“I’m not a big hitter of the ball, normally I play along the ground most of the time,” he said.
“If you get too greedy thinking about sixes here, there’s chances to get out.
“I played my normal game, tried not to hit big sixes and work through the gaps.
“I was happy with the end result as a team.
“I think we were 3/55 and then ‘Hobba’ (Jayson Hobbs) and I had a good partnership.
“’Hobba’ was really good, he was working hard and played a good innings.
“We were (looking at) 260/270 at one stage at the end of the day but after James (Anson), (Hussain) Ali and Sanka (Dinesh) played that innings we pushed to 320 and it was great.”
Hobbs made 52 as the only other batter to pass 50 while Ali (32) and Anson (33) made significant lower-order contributions.
Anson’s 33 came in blistering time, hitting four sixes and one four in his brief but significant 14-ball innings.
With 151 first class matches under his belt and a batting average just shy of 50 over a 17-year career, Silva brings a wealth of knowledge to Park Oval in Buckley’s quest to unseat Springvale South at the top of the competition.
He said he is enjoying his time at Buckley and has offered his know-how to the club’s younger and junior players with an eye to coaching professionally in the future.
“I’ve been like that my whole life,” Silva said of his generosity and support of younger players.
“At first I thought I would play a little bit of cricket and that’s it, but thought I would share my knowledge with the kids.
“I’m thinking about starting my own coaching academy to share my knowledge with the kids.
“As soon as the first day, Sonny said ‘this is not a club, this is like a family.’ I think it’s great.”
North Dandenong’s seam bowlers were expensive, with openers Sushant Gupta and Jawid Khan both conceding nearly four runs per over.
Maroons skipper Clayton McCartney used eight different bowlers in what was North Dandenong’s first bowling innings of the season.
Khan, Syed Shah and Ramneet Dhindsa each claimed two wickets.
