By JARROD POTTER
CARRYING on the family tradition, Cranbourne cricketer Sen Sathyajith has earned his first schoolboy’s cap.
Cranbourne Cricket Club’s 12-year-old batting powerhouse fought hard to go one step better this year and make it into the School Sport Victoria (SSV) under-12 cricket team.
Making the team, the same side his older brother Nivin made two years ago, was a great honour for Sathyajith … especially considering he had to toil to get into the line-up.
“I was pretty proud to get in,” Sathyajith said. “I tried out last year and made it through the first round and was cut in the second round – this year I just made it to the last round and into the state team.
“I reckon last year I didn’t really train much, but this year I had more determination to make it really.”
He wields his blade right handed and although Sathyajith doesn’t mind charging in as an occasional pace-bowler, he sees himself more of a top-order batsman who likes to play his way into a big innings.
“I’m not really hard hitting – I just play my shots whenever I see them,” Sathyajith said.
“Usually I’m not a fast batsman, but I’m not that slow.”
He’s not just a cricket star on the rise, with Sathyajith playing for Casey Comets under-12s and under-15s in the soccer – getting the best and fairest for the younger side.
It leaves him with the age-old dilemma many teenagers eventually face – whether to stick with summer sport or winter sport.
“In the winter, I want to be a professional soccer player, but in summer I want to be a professional cricket player – so I never really know,” Sathyajith said.
“In the under-12s, I play centre-mid usually, but in the under-15s I play left back.”
But with the sun out, he’s focused solely on cricket this summer, playing under-15s at Cranbourne with his older brother and Sathyajith hopes to get back into the DDCA representative side and eventually the Southern Pioneers region team, too.
Sathyajith will head off with his Victorian schoolboys side to Brisbane in January for the national championships.
He wanted to thank his family, his coach Bathiya Perera and all the clubs that have supported him throughout his cricketing journey so far.
