Kaushal Silva’s unbeaten century guides Greenvale Kangaroos to win
Greenvale Kangaroos coach Kaushal Silva continues to plunder runs, the Sri Lanka Test star’s unbeaten century guiding his team to a crucial Premier Cricket victory over Ringwood.
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Greenvale coach Kaushal Silva proved he’s worth his weight in gold after a match-winning century on Saturday.
The Sri Lanka Test player smashed his second ton of the Premier Cricket season as the Kangaroos claimed a two-wicket win over Ringwood.
Silva finished unbeaten on 128 and is the only player with two tons in the competition, lifting him to third on the run-scoring charts.
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“It was important, I wanted to finish it off,” Silva said.
“The win was very important to the team and the boys were pumped up after the game.
“(Premier Cricket) has been challenging, but I think I’m up for it. It’s always good to score runs.”
Ringwood posted 9-252dec on the opening day of the two-day clash after half-centuries to Jackson Freeman (57) and Harry Came (60).
Sean McNicholl (3-51) and Mitchell Edwards (3-52) were the main destroyers for the Kangaroos.
Greenvale made a solid start on a tricky pitch, opener Luke Sandy taking 59 balls to make 16.
Almost every Kangaroos batsman made a start but Silva couldn’t find someone to stick with him, Akash Dahri (23) the only other player to pass 20.
The match was up for grabs when Dahri fell at 7-226, but Silva nursed his team over the line, knocking in the winning runs at 8-254.
“Their bowlers were quite tight and very accurate at the start, there was quite a bit of grass (on the wicket), so it was doing a bit,” he said.
“Luke and I had to work really hard, the first hour was really tough.
“That laid the platform for us. If we’d lost early wickets, then we’d have been in trouble, but the wicket settled down and made batting a lot easier.
“I trusted everyone … there were quite a few good partnerships in the middle overs, they were very important.”
Greenvale has claimed three straight victories, going back-to-back in Premier Cricket with a Super Slam T20 victory over Essendon in between.
The Kangaroos face a trip to Central Reserve this week for a two-day clash against Monash Tigers before finishing 2019 at home against Footscray.
“The guys are improving every game, every training session,” Silva said.
“The last couple of weeks have been fantastic and we’re getting some due credit.”