ALL-ROUNDER DE SILVA MAKES MOVE TO ECCLESHALL FOR NSSCL SEASON

CRICKET: Sri Lanka all-rounder Chaturanga De Silva is heading to the North Staffs and South Cheshire League next summer. The left-handed batsman and slow left-arm bowler has agreed a deal with Division One side Eccleshall. The 31-year-old has played seven one-dayers and two Twenty20 internationals for Sri Lanka. De Silva has a wealth of domestic experience in his home country, having played 93 first-class matches, 150 List A games and 99 T20 encounters.

He shot to prominence in February 2014 when he was part of a Sri Lanka Emerging Players team which took on England Lions in Colombo.

De Silva took the wickets of Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes and Liam Plunkett in the drawn match, as well as hitting half-centuries in both innings.

He also impressed in the two ‘unofficial’ Tests which followed, making runs and picking up wickets as the Lions claimed a 1-0 series win.

He went on to make his Sri Lanka debut later that month in the Asia Cup against Pakistan.

The first of his two T20 caps arrived in 2017.

In first-class cricket he averages just over 40 with the bat, hitting 10 centuries, and averages 27 with the ball, having taken 200 wickets. His younger brother Wanindu Hasaranga is currently part of the Sri Lanka set-up, taking a hat-trick in the recent T20 World Cup match against South Africa.

De Silva joins an Eccleshall team who will be eyeing up a push for promotion in 2022.

They actually won Division One in 2020, but only half a season was played because of the coronavirus pandemic and no promotion or relegation was in operation. They impressed last summer as well, ending up in fifth place with 12 wins and eight defeats from their 22 matches.

That left them just 40 points off a promotion place at the end of the campaign - and hopes will be high that the recruitment of De Silva can help them be in the mix when the action starts in April. Division One looks as though it could be one of the most competitive in the NSSCL set-up next summer with Whitmore and Ashcombe Park dropping down from the Premier Division and Norton in Hales and Sandbach making the move up from Division Two.

Eccleshall tweeted: “The club are extremely pleased to confirm the signing of Chaturanga De Silva for the upcoming 2022 season.”