By Nick Creely
The cautious leaving of the ball, the straight bat and the hard-running between the wickets, followed by a gradual increase in aggression and flamboyant strokeplay.
It was a prototype Ashley Chandrasinghe knock that has been seen many times during his young career.
Aside from a rock-solid technique, the young man also has plenty of pizzazz about his batting.
There are few batsmen in Victorian Premier Cricket ranks that places a higher regard on their wicket – in fact, aside from Geelong star Eamonn Vines, no one has spent longer at the crease this season.
He’s becoming a sore sight for opposition bowlers.
It’s classical, pure top-order batting, focused on technique and concentration with the confidence that runs will come, and from a teenager, it could very well lead to higher honours in the not-too-distant future.
Chandrasinghe’s second century of his career on Saturday against Ringwood in just his 19th first XI match was a beauty.
He now has 809 runs at an average just over 50 in his stunning Premier Cricket career to date.
Swans coach Brian Keogh couldn’t have higher praise for his emerging young star, describing the stylish left-hander as a ‘rare’ talent he hasn’t seen often in his cricketing life.
“I don’t know if I know anybody, and it’d be very interesting to go back through the history books, whether anyone has come through the fourth XI and into the first XI, and in his first 19 games has opened the batting, made two centuries and averaging more than 50,” he said.
“I’ve seen a lot of very good Premier batters average 40 and they’re absolute superstars, but he’s batting at the top of the list and already averages over 50.
“It’s amazing.”
Against an incredibly strong Ringwood bowling outfit, featuring Victorian quick Zak Evans, Chandrasinghe looked utterly unfazed.
He took his time getting going as Lachie Sperling raced out of the blocks at the other end, and while the leftie stayed patient there was also an inevitably that it would eventually turn for him.
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The real shift in his game came when keeper bat Dev Pollock (82) arrived at the crease, and the pair soaked up pressure before realising the shackles with a cracking 147-run stand.
Pollock playing the aggressor sent some stunning shots to the boundary, while Chandrasinghe continued to run hard and build his innings.
When Pollock fell, Chris Benedek crunched a brutal 19-ball 45, slapping four sixes in the process, while Chandrasinghe remained calm to bat through the innings and register an unbeaten 103 as the Swans racked up 3/271.
His sequence to get to the century is an indication of his continual improvement, scooping one over short fine leg’s head for a boundary before a crisp drive for two down the ground brought about the three figure.
It was, in Keogh’s mind, the complete batting performance from his young star, and a sign of things to come.
“The three things that jump out is that we’re happy, we’re proud and we’re excited for him,” he said.
“This year he’s learned some real tricks to his batting, like hitting balls over the top where it previously wasn’t part of his game.
“I think the next evolution is to score a bit quicker, and that’s continuing to learn where is single is and where his boundary is.
“He’s almost a complete player now. He’s fit, he’s strong, and he’ll only get stronger.”
Keogh said the club was quietly confident that he wasn’t far from securing a state contract with Victoria.
“We’re hopeful to be honest, that there is a (state) contract for him next season,” he said.
Keogh also heaped praise on vice-captain Devin Pollock, who was all class in his knock of 82.
“As good as Ashley was, Dev’s knock set the cornerstone to make that 270,” he said.
“He’s been really frustrated about making starts, and that’s been the challenge for the batting group this season aside from Ashley.
“Why people love playing cricket with Dev, he’s just such a competitor and so determined, and once he got that start, he was as determined as I’ve seen him.
“It was a hell of an innings.
“We think he has capabilities to go to the next level – he’s made a lot of starts, and if he went on, he could 600, 700 runs, so if he converts more then who knows.
“If they bring back the state second XI, we hope his name is up for consideration.”
Despite the second-innings washout resulting in a draw, Keogh said that there was so much promise to take out of the clash for the rest of the year and into next season.
“We were disappointed, but we take it as a small win,” he said.
“It was the most complete batting performance of the season by far – all the things we talked about with our game plan we ticked.
“The acceleration at the end was what we’ve been talking about – if you’ve got wickets in hand with 10 or 12 overs, you can score heavily, and that was off the back of some great hitting from Chris (Benedek) and Ash (Chandrasinghe).”
The Swans face a huge ask when they take on ladder-leaders Carlton at Princes Park on Saturday, and Keogh said his group was relishing the prospect of taking it up to the competition’s heavyweights.
“They’re a star side, they’ve been so good for so long,” he said.
“We have unbelievable respect for them as a side, as a club and how they go about it, but we spoke after the game, we just want to take the game deep and be competitive, and see where it takes us.
“They’ve had so many soft kills this season, but we want to take it deep and see what happens.”
