Former Sri Lankan national cricket team captain Tillakaratne Dilshan has revealed why he has padded up for a local Victorian cricket club.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast, Dilshan, who now lives in Victoria after retiring from international cricket in 2016, explained how he got to Victorian Premier Cricket first division side Casey South Melbourne.
“I didn’t want to play any cricket after I retired in 2016, but I had a good talk with the president of the Casey club and he wanted to share my experience with the Victorian cricketers,” Dilshan said.
“I thought why not share my experience of nearly two decades with the up and coming cricketers of Victoria?"
Dilshan revealed just how little cricket he had played before suiting up for the south-east Melbourne club.
“I didn’t arrive at the club until Thursday, two days before the match. I also hadn’t played any first-class cricket since my retirement. I played one masters tournament in Mumbai but that was all. I didn’t even touch the bat for one year,” Dilshan said.
“After facing a few balls in the net I felt like I was ready to go.
“The first match I delivered when we beat Dandenong. Everyone was pretty happy and I’m looking forward to sharing my experience again with the youngsters."
The former Sri Lankan skipper also expressed concern for the state of his nations current cricket team.
“At the moment we are in a very bad situation. We are not performing,” Dilshan said.
“We have some young talent, but I feel that in modern cricket that some young cricketers don’t take it seriously. I know that if we have some young players who come forward and take it seriously we can become a good team again soon.”
After scoring 53 runs in Casey South Melbourne’s win over Dandenong on Saturday, Dilshan and Casey South Melbourne will face Melbourne University on Saturday.