Sri Lanka discard Angelo Perera has once again let his bat do the talking this time in the on-going SLC Major League Tier A where he contributed another half century (51) for Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) against Lankan CC at Maitland Place yesterday that took his career aggregate to over 7000 First Class runs.
He smashed 126 against Ragama CC in the tournament’s opener.
Perera is currently captaining the NCC team that declared at a massive 511 for 9 with opener Pathum Nissanka making 129.
He was given a raw deal despite scoring twin double hundreds in the domestic season last year when he was selected for the Sri Lanka Test tour of South Africa and not picked into the playing eleven.
His current form puts him on course for recognition ahead of England’s tour of Sri Lanka next month.
Former World Cup champion Sanath Jayasuriya when he was the head selector remarked that Perera could have easily walked into the Sri Lanka Test team in 2013 which never happened.
He made his ODI debut in a home series against South Africa in July 2013 and his T/20 debut against in another home series against Bangladesh also in the same year 2013.
Perera is a powerful middle-order batsman with an arsenal of strokes and has carved out an impression over the past six years.
His first class figures are even better, having scored as many as 18 centuries and 35 fifties from 98 matches.
During his first class career he has a total of 7067 runs with a highest score of 244 for an average of 48.07 runs per inning.
He has also hit 671 boundaries, 145 sixes and taken 92 catches.
A product of St. Peter’s College, Perera led his school side in his senior year and also featured in Sri Lanka’s Under-19 teams from 2007 to 2009.
His domestic career has been followed keenly for several years and experts now fear that any more blunders on the part of the selectors could see the country lose out on yet another batsman who should have made the grade much earlier than left to languish on the sidelines.
Perera is also one of the most hardcore and seasoned batsmen in the Sri Lanka First Class scene being around for more than 10 years.
Scores:
NCC 511 for 9 declared (Pathum Nissanka 129, LU Igalagamage 39, Upul Tharanga 69, Angelo Perera 51, SD Arachchige 64, C Karunaratne 63, LAC Ruwansiri 3 for 57)
Lankan CC 249 for 4 (AL Abeyratne 36, KP Perera 66, HG Kumara 61, LAC Ruwansiri 51)