Noble Park’s Sahan Perera wins second VSDCA Holten Medal in a row
After a wild vote count, Noble Park’s Sahan Perera has been rewarded for his golden, record-breaking summer, with his second VSDCA Holten Medal.
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Sahan Perera’s golden summer has been capped with a second straight VSDCA Holten Medal.
The Noble Park ace scored a record-breaking 1071 runs at an average of 89.25 in a remarkable individual campaign.
It smashed Mick Allen’s all-time record of 957 runs, as he became the first player to break the 1000-run barrier in a season.
He also smashed a century in the VSDCA’s representative win over the VCCL and another in the mid-week T20 competition.
Perera also added 35 wickets at 18.49, ranked sixth in the North-East group, to guide the Bulls to the North-East group grand final.
After sharing the league medal with Brighton’s Glen Parker last year, Perera stood alone at the top this season in a wild finish.
A match-high 74 and 2-28 in the Round 15 win over Croydon saw the star all-rounder poll three votes to pip Spotswood run-machine Lachlan McKenna by one.
The pair exchanged the lead the each of the final five rounds, sparing with tons and man-of-the-match performances.
Perera finished with 30 votes, polling the maximum six times and failing to earn a vote in only three of 15 matches.
Preston premiership-winning captain Vaib Deshpande (22), Caulfield’s four-time Holten Medallist Jacob Thorne (21) and Altona’s Ben Davies (19) rounded out the top-five.
He said it had been a dream season.
“The first game I scored a hundred, that doesn’t mean the whole season will go your way,” Perera said.
“Making 1000 runs is down to a lot of luck, the rain gods showed me a lot of mercy - only the Kew game was washed out - and all the wickets we played on were really good.
“And of course, there is always a partner to help you score the runs and supporting you.
“I thank the world cricket structure for creating more right-handers than left-handers, I’m a left-hand offie it’s as simple as that.
“Janaka was setting the fields and I was reading the batsman, trying to get some info from him, but thankfully Australia has more right-handers.”
Perera finished with four centuries, his 105 in the semi-final victory over St Bernard’s taking him past the 1000-run mark.
He added another seven half-centuries and had a best bowling of 4-9 against Coburg.
Noble Park fell agonisingly short of back-to-back premierships, losing the decider to Preston.
Perera is confident the Bulls will again be among the top contenders in 2025-26.
“We are building the team again, some will go out and some will come in,” he said.
“Janaka will be captain and will be rallying around him and building a strong team.
“Now we’ll be playing against the Lachie McKenna’s, so it will be a really interesting (season).
“Yes, we were defeated in the final but throughout the journey we were an awesome team, everyone contributed.”
Despite Spotswood missing finals, McKenna finished with 847 runs, tops in the South-West group, at an average of 56.47, while also snaring 20 wickets.
The top-four vote-getters were all selected in the VSDCA Team of the Season.
Shakeel Ahmed (Preston), Rishi Patel (Bayswater), Nish Perera (St Bernard’s), Justin Goegan, Harshit Takkar (Hoppers Crossing), Shenuka De Silva (Mt Waverley), Dan Houghton (Brunswick) and Dan Schuppan (Spotswood) also made the cut.
In other awards, Bayswater’s Jakey Pietz claimed the Gale Medal as the VSDCA’s rising star.
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The promising spinner was selected in the Vic Metro Under-17 squad this season, while also taking 26 wickets at 19.42, with a best of 4-42, and scoring 102 runs.
Six association stalwarts were awarded life membership; Neil Burns (Altona), Rohan Pollard (Bayswater), Ken Trollope (Box Hill), Steve Wilson (Preston), Brenton Hodges (Williamstown), Keith Thompson (VCCL).
Port Melbourne player and long-time VSDCA secretary, the late Bill Price, and Subbies’ all-time leading run-scorer and second-most games played, Anthony Gale of Melton, were inducted into the association’s Hall of Fame.
Perera (East), McKenna (West), Deshpande (North) and Jacob Thorne (South) were awarded the Leader Group Player of the Season.
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