Tewkesbury has moved quickly to secure a replacement professional following Muktar Hussain’s withdrawal through Indian pre-season commitments.
His replacement, though, is a quality Sri Lankan all-rounder in the form of ex Sri Lankan under-19 star Randeera Ranasinghe.
Quite the prospect…
Ranasinghe is an exceptional prospect playing alongside legendary CricX star Ravi Karunaratne for Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club in Sri Lanka.
A schoolboy prodigy, Ranasinghe excelled for his College 1st XI, with whom he skippered, and was named runner-up at the 2017/18 Dialog Cup Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award ceremony as the best “batter” and “all-rounder”.
A genuine all-rounder
A quick bowler and hard-hitting batter, between 2016 and 2019, Ranasinghe represented the Sri Lankan Under-19s, playing in various Asia Cup tournaments.
After dominating youth cricket, the all-rounder was fast-tracked into the Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club squad for the 2018/19 season. He made his debut across the three formats, with the highlight an 83 in first-class cricket.
From prodigy to pro…
The following season, Ranasinghe enjoyed a breakthrough summer on the domestic circuit, particularly in red-ball cricket. Towards the backend of the season, the all-rounder was named skipper and he celebrated the honour with a blistering century (138 from 151 balls) against Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club. Coming in at number 8 with KY 77-6, Ranasinghe belted Navy to all parts hitting 12 fours and 7 sixes, helping his team to a first innings score of 325.
Unfortunately, COVID put pay to first-class cricket in 2020/21, however, Ranasinghe continued to shine in white-ball cricket, this time with the ball.
He was KY’s shining light with the rock taking 10 wickets at 20.80 and 12 wickets at 15 in List A and T20 respectively. His aggressive bowling, particularly in the latter, helped KY to the T20 semi-final. Ranasinghe finished amongst the leading wicket-takers, grabbing a wicket every 11 balls all with an impressive economy rate of 8.18.
Maiden UK stint
The young gun really is a star in the making and to continue his development he spent a season with Driffield Town for their 2021 Yorkshire Premier League North campaign. Whilst he didn’t set the strong ECB Premier League alight, he showed glimpses of his undoubted potential.
Set for UK return in 2022
Now a UKCC level 2 coach, Ranasinghe is set to return to Northern shores again this summer having recently signed with Tewkesbury for their 2022 West of England Premier League campaign
