Premier Cricket: Kingston Hawthorn paceman Harry Singh on the move to Greenvale Kangaroos

A Hawk becomes a Kangaroo in the latest transfer as clubs get cracking on training for the Premier Cricket season.

Kingston Hawthorn’s Harry Singh has joined Greenvale Kangaroos. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Kingston Hawthorn found a good player last season in Harry Singh.

Now the Hawks have lost him: the 25-year-old has joined rival club Greenvale Kangaroos.

Kingston Hawthorn coach Peter Marshall said he was disappointed but understood Singh wanted to play closer to home.

He said the paceman had to do a lot of travel to play with the Hawks.

Recruited from the VTCA, Singh had an encouraging first season in Premier Cricket, taking 19 wickets at 25.6, with his best of 4-35 coming in the boilover victory over St Kilda.

He also hit 207 runs down the list.

“Good luck to Harry. He’s a lovely guy, the easiest bloke to work with and we wish him all the best,’’ Marshall said.

“Players come and go. I know Greenvale were very keen to get him but we’re not going to get into a bidding war with other clubs over cricketers.’’

Greenvale Kangaroos are chuffed to have landed Singh.

“He’s a fantastic addition to our line-up. Very pleasing to add someone of his calibre,’’ Kangaroos coach Damian Shanahan said.

“He’s a raw and talented young man with a massive upside to his future. He was super-impressive when we played them last year.

“Him living on this side of town has probably paid off for us and he’s seeing how we’re trying to develop as a club.’’

Singh had stints with Altona North and Point Cook in the VTCA.

Westmeadows VTCA player Malith Cooray joins Footscray in Premier Cricket

It’s a big jump from the VTCA to Premier Cricket.

But at the age of 31 Malith Cooray will make it next season, joining Footscray from Westmeadows.

The former Sri Lankan first-class cricketer lives in West Footscray and contacted the Bulldogs about a possible move.

“Osmosis, I’d call it,’’ Footscray coach Allan Wise was saying on Monday.

“He lives close to the club, he reached out, we had a good chat, he was doing his Level 2 coaching and he was wanting to play the highest level of cricket he could. So that’s how it came about.

“He’s a likely prospect. He hasn’t played Premier Cricket before but he’s 30 and wanted to have a crack, which is admirable, because it’s easy to stay in the locals and get a bit of coin.’’

Cooray, a right-hand batsman and right-arm bowler, played 29 first-class matches in Sri Lanka, averaging 25 with the bat and making one century.

Last season he hit 201 runs at 20.1 and took 16 wickets at 14.6.

He’d previously played at Glenroy, Altona Roosters and Seddon.

The Bulldogs have regained pacemen Jake Reed and Lucas Dredge from injury, which is probably just as well considering the bowling attack will be minus Jordan Buckingham (crossed to South Australia rookie contract) and Hamish Winter-Irving (joined Werribee in Sub-District cricket).

Malith Cooray bowling for Westmeadows.

And former Victorian left-arm paceman Jackson Coleman – who transferred to Footscray from Melbourne last season – is unlikely to play.

Injury restricted Coleman to two matches for the Dogs.

Ex-Victoria quickie and Big Bash leaguer Reed has recovered from an ACL and Dredge is returning from a back injury, picking up on a Premier Cricket career that stands at 131 matches. He has 162 wickets at 25.73.

Dredge last played on December 7 of the 2019-20 season.

“He seems pretty confident in his body,’’ Wise said of Dredge.

“He’s a pretty fit guy and pretty diligent, so he’ll be doing a lot of work in the background. I’m reasonably confident he can have an impact but there’s no expectation there either. He’s basically missed two seasons of cricket.’’

Young players Ben Roosenboom, Max Birthisel, Jonah Koch, Siddhesh Dixit and Jay Vine are also part of the Footscray attack.

“There’s really no ceiling with that group,’’ Wise noted. “They haven’t played a lot First XI cricket but they’re all pretty talented.’’

The Bulldogs have a formidable batting division in Travis Dean, Dylan Brasher, Dean Russ, Daniel Sartori and wicketkeeper Dylan Kight, although as a unit they made fewer runs than expected last season.

“They didn’t fire like we were hoping … the one-day cricket last season probably wasn’t their perfect form of the game, and that’s not making excuses … but there’s no doubt our batting is a strength,’’ Wise said.