Ivanhoe will welcome back former captain Raza Rizwan for Subbies season

Former Ivanhoe captain Raza Rizwan couldn’t have timed his return to the Saints any better after the VSDCA club’s leading run-scorer and wicket-taker departed over the off-season.

Raza Rizwan in action for Ivanhoe. Picture: Hamish Blair

Ivanhoe’s hopes of reaching VSDCA finals for the first time since 2014-15 have received a massive boost.

Former First XI captain Raza Rizwan has returned after a year out of the game to bolster the Saints on both sides of the ball.

It’s a timely comeback after Ivanhoe lost leading run-scorer Kasun Adikari (Sri Lanka) and wicket-taker Yoshan Kumara (Deer Park) over the off-season.

In his last season, Rizwan led the club in wicket with 21 at an average of 19.19 and scored the second most runs – 418 at 34.83 – behind Adikari.

Ivanhoe captain-coach Sunny Fernando was rapt to have him back on board.

Raza Rizwan in action for Ivanhoe. Picture: Hamish Blair

“He’s a big, big recruit because he makes a lot of runs and is a really good fast bowler as well,” Fernando said.

“He’s one of the best all-rounders in the competition, so we’re really excited to have him back.

“He had a new business and was committed to that last year but was happy to play another season, I rang him and he was happy to come back.”

Two-time VSDCA Team of the Year star Adikari will not be easy to replace.

In just 26 First XI matches he amassed 1286 runs at an extraordinary average of 59.

“He went to play First Class cricket in Sri Lanka,” Fernando said.

“He’d scored a lot of runs for us but what can you do, it’s part of cricket with some people leaving and some coming in.”

Ivanhoe will hope Sanahasa Fernando can back up his breakout season after finishing second in both runs and wickets last season.

Fernando is also looking forward to seeing the likes of Alex Pannell, Jonathan Kuch and Connor O’Brien step up and make an impact at First XI level regularly.

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Ivahoe had a final hit out against South region powerhouse Caulfield on Saturday with Fernando happy with his players performance.

The Saints kick off the North-West conference season against Taylors Lakes at Ivanhoe Park on Saturday.

“Always the expectations are high, hopefully we can make finals this year,” Fernando said.

“Making the top-six is the main goal in all the grades. We’ve got a lot of youngsters coming through playing in the lower grades.”