HIGHTON SCORES SRI LANKAN VIA FACEBOOK
A BACCHUS MARSH brainwave and a sneaky Facebook DM has helped Highton land an top-order batsman with first-class experience.
Heat co-coach Hayden Murrell was driving through Bacchus Marsh recently and thinking about his side’s prospects, when he decided to scour MyCricket for local talent.
His search led him to Sri Lankan national Milinda Sepala.
After a reaching out on Facebook, Murrell signed up the left-hander to lead Highton’s charge into GCA1 next summer.
It’s exciting to get someone in who has got first-class experience,” Murrell said.
“I just found him on Facebook, believe it or not, and got in contact, and we just went from there.
“It’s an unusual appointment, but you have to think outside of the box at the moment.”
Sepala, 36, has 22 first-class appearances to his name for Moratuwa and Saracens sports clubs in Sri Lanka and averaged 55 with the bat for Bacchus Marsh CC in 2018-19.
“He lives just out of Bacchus Marsh, so he will get down once a week to train and hopefully to play on Saturdays,” Murrell said.
“We won’t put too much pressure on him, but it will definitely be good to get him in with the experience he has got.
“We just want him to come in and get comfortable and go from there.”
The Heat reached out to several potential recruits after being promoted to GCA1 ahead of next season and is confident young quick Matt Tattersall (Geelong CC) will make an early impact.
“It’s not an ideal time to go up to GCA1, but we are still excited to take the challenge on regardless,” Murrell said. “We think we are capable of being competitive and winning games of cricket.”