By Marcus Uhe
Casey South Melbourne opening batter Ashley Chandrasinghe says he’s enjoying his cricket “as much as I have ever been” as a key member of the Swans’ charge to a potential Victorian Premier Cricket championship.
The opener is fourth on the competition’s leading run-scorer list, with 686 runs at 68.6, including three centuries and three fifties.
His 159 against Melbourne University, his highest score of the campaign, came on the back of a slight adjustment he made to his technique during the week.
Striving for that extra ounce of improvement, the 22-year-old spent the previous day honing a new dimension to his game, before putting it into practice with great success against the Students.
“I guess it’s probably what I haven’t done in the past, I’m usually a ‘set in stone’ kind of guy, but I think it’s what I’ve had to do to try and get better; it’s forced my hand a little bit to try to tinker around, which I’ve had to do this season,” Chandrasinghe said.
“I tried a new trigger on Saturday, which was the first time I used it, which was interesting.
“In particular last weekend it was trying to get my head further into the ball, rather than leading with my feet.
“I do think about my batting a lot and see how I can improve, but this is something that I’ve been trying to figure out for a while now.”
It may come as a surprise to hear from the prodigious talent that the enjoyment for the game is at its peak, given his absence from the Victorian Sheffield Shield side this season.
Having made himself a mainstay in the Victorian batting lineup in 2022/23, with a century on debut against Tasmania and carrying his bat in the first innings of the Sheffield Shield final, Chandrasinghe was upgraded from a Rookie contract at Cricket Victoria to the primary list in May 2023 for the 2023/24 campaign.
But he’s found himself on the outer of the Shield side for the duration of the season to date, with Victoria blessed with options at the top of the order.
Travis Dean and Marcus Harris have been the preferred combination, the pair opening the batting in four of the seven matches so far, with Will Pucovski and Nic Maddinson also given opportunities.
Maddinson scored a breakthrough century in the Victorian’s last contest against South Australia, his first match since knee surgery in January 2023.
While in fellow young batting guns in Melbourne’s Blake Thomson and Footscray’s Dylan Brasher, first and third respectively in Premier Cricket for runs scored this season, the competition for spots is fierce.
It bodes well for the State’s batting stocks, and for Chandrasinghe, it’s another challenge to overcome.
“I think there’s more motivation when other guys are doing really well around you, so you definitely want to be up to that mark or standard,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a rivalry, each of us are on our own journey.
“Particularly with the young guys, like ‘Brash’ (Dylan Brasher), we have hits quite often and try to figure out how to help each other out, so there isn’t really a rivalry as such, but we are trying to progress our own journey.”
Victoria has three Sheffield Shield games remaining, including one in Hobart, the scene of Chandrasinghe’s dream debut.
A Victorian Second XI game, to be played at Chandrasinghe’s home deck of Casey Fields against Queensland from 19-22 February, presents a perfect opportunity to put his name forward once again, and showcase the improvements he has made to his game away from the spotlight of Domestic cricket this summer.
But for the man himself, the focus remains on the Swans, and delivering a fresh addition to the trophy cabinet at the new Lindsay Hassett Pavilion.
“Of course I’d love to be in the (Sheffield Shield) squad again this year but I think the likelihood of that happening is pretty low,” he said.
“I’ll try to take each game as it comes and in the meantime, focus on the Swans and try to progress our finals race, to make sure that we’re in the best shape for finals.
“It’s been awesome with the Swans so far this year and hopefully we can keep that going and get some silverware.”
