NEW Mildura West signing Thanura Rajapakse says his move to the Aero Ovals from Workers Gol Gol was out of his hands.
The 37-year-old Sri Lanka-born off-spinner had a choice between Mildura West and Mildura Settlers.
Struggling with the decision, he called upon his three-month-old son, Archer, to settle it.
“It was a hard decision to make, Setts and West brought the same kind of thoughts and I had friends in both teams,” Rajapakse said.
“It wasn’t my choice, I’m not ashamed to say. It was the hardest decision of my life. I wrote down two teams and gave them to Archer, he chose West, so I had to respect that.”
The move to West links Rajapakse with former teammate and ex-West captain Brandon Dixon.
Rajapakse and Dixon, as well as Dixon’s brother Shannon, have been close friends since their days in the Swan Hill District Cricket Association with Ultima Tyntynder United Football Cricket Club – where they won a one-day premiership together in 2008-09.
“I wanted a change, plus I know ‘Dicko’ very well – for nearly 13 years, I played cricket with him back in Swan Hill,” Rajapakse said.
“He’s a really good friend plus a brother from another mother, we won a premiership together.”
“I heard he came to Mildura and tried to get him to Workers but he stuck with West.”
Rajapakse was also looking forward to playing under West coach Chris Williams – one of the district’s most respected cricketers.
“It’s a pleasure to play with him, plus Dicko, I think the experience I’ve got and their experience – we’ve got a young team at West so for them I want to be a role model,” Rajapakse said. “Along with experienced players like Williams and Dicko.”
Rajapakse endured a disjointed campaign for Workers Gol Gol last season for good and bad reasons.
The bad, a broken finger kept him out for six weeks, and for the good, he and wife, Alicia, got married in Sri Lanka
In his four First Division games Rajapakse took eight wickets at an average of 13.63, however he found it hard to break into a strong Workers Gol Gol line-up under coach Adam Thomson.
“I got back and played a couple of games and took wickets, but it was hard,” Rajapakse said.
He played six Second Division games, taking 11 wickets at 6.73 including 3/10 in his side’s Second Division grand final win.
Before that, in the 2017-18 season, he took 20 wickets in First Division at an average of 22.05. In 2016-17 he claimed 26 wickets at an average of 14.31 and in 2015-16, playing First Division from round 9 onwards, Rajapakse claimed 19 wickets at an average of 8.84
He said there were no hard feelings towards his former club.
“Workers have been very good. I played 11 years for them and the club has been fantastic to me,” Rajapakse said.
“Playing with Nick Jensen, Dewey (Matt Cameron), Shac Thomas, I learned a lot from those kind of players – they’ve been good to me.
“I don’t think I have too much left in my body so I’d like to finish cricket with Dicko.”
