'Phenomenal' Chandrasinghe echoes history with debut ton

Ashley Chandrasinghe's debut first-class century seemed about as inevitable as could be for a player making their maiden professional appearance.

Not only did he score more than 100 runs in both his Victoria Second XI (56 and 68) and first grade (144) debuts, but the previous two batters from his club – Casey-South Melbourne – to represent their state also reached three figures in their respective first-class debuts.

The unflappable 20-year-old echoed Bloods greats Wayne Phillips (111 versus the West Indians in 1988-89) and Mick Taylor (107 versus Queensland in 1977-78) with a marathon 119 not out from 333 balls over the weekend against a Test quality attack featuring Tasmanian veterans Peter Siddle and Jackson Bird.

There's been a buzz about Chandrasinghe in Victorian cricketing circles ever since he scored 669 Premier Cricket runs in his first full season as a teenager.

Image Id: 3733143DD0BF49B48FB282EE7BAE6B4A Image Caption: Chandrasinghe receives his Victorian cap on Saturday morning from Chris Rogers // Getty

Chandrasinghe has come to the big time the hard way. While he was hardly a junior prodigy having failed to standout in any of Victoria's state underage teams, he backed up his first grade form with 423 runs at an average of 84.60 in his first season of state second XI cricket in 2021-22, forcing his way onto Victoria's list through weight of runs.

In between he's travelled to Darwin each Melbourne winter since 2018 to improve his game, stunning the competition earlier this year with five consecutive hundreds for Waratah Warriors during the two-day season.

It's a work ethic and a desire to improve that's left its mark on another Casey-South Melbourne club great in Damien Fleming.

"Spin could bog him down two years ago," Fleming told cricket.com.au today. "He probably didn't have an attacking option against spin.

"Then first training session last year he plays this thunderous sweep and I said 'OK, when did you pick that one up?'

"He'd done a little bit of work up in Darwin with some Tassie state players, and he picked it up in the nets just by how much they worked on sweeping and reverse sweeping.

"He's someone who's trying to constantly improve his game, not everyone is like that."

And while the Casey-South Melbourne fraternity would have been overjoyed with what Chandrasinghe has achieved today, Fleming said it doesn't come as a surprise.

The 20-Test former quick had tipped the left-hander to be a star on the rise when he returned to Casey-South Melbourne as a High Performance Consultant two summers ago.

"Straightaway I noticed he was just a class player in the nets, he provides a really full face of the bat and with really good players it just makes a different noise," Fleming said.

"He lets the ball go, he waits for bowlers to bowl in his area but when it's in his area he hits it pretty hard.

"He reminds me a bit of Graham Yallop who was captain-coach of the Bloods in my first years and the one thing I remember with 'Wally' was just how broad the bat looked when he drove, particularly his on drives.

"The way Ash brought up that hundred (today), technically he's in such a good position and provides a really full face of the bat."

And while his marathon innings makes him suited to red-ball cricket, Fleming and Victoria head coach Chris Rogers agree his stroke play and scoring rates will evolve as his experience grows.

Fleming said his strike rate had increased about 10 per cent each year, helped in part by the last two seasons of club cricket in Melbourne being just one-day matches due to the pandemic.

"I think of guys like Greg Shipperd and what he's done for the Sixers to become a powerhouse," Fleming said.

"He's a very crafty coach. They're not all power strikers and I look at the way he's developed Daniel Hughes and Jordan Silk, who you wouldn't have thought would be gun T20 players.

"Careers don't always go on the incline but you've got to be in it to work out your game against attacks like (Tasmania's).

"He's very unique and in some ways, he looks just made for four-day cricket and hopefully Test cricket down the track particularly when you go to places like England (with the ball) moving around, to have an opener just bat through tough periods and bat around is really exciting.

"I'm glad the Vics have got him in because you need to be looking forward and the Australian team, with Dave (Warner) and Usman (Khawaja) in their mid-30s, you need to be providing options at state level and getting someone in early."

Rogers added: "Dealing with Jackson Bird and Peter Siddle, who are probably two of the best bowlers on this kind of pitch, it was always going to be really challenging for him.

Image Id: AC405762CCF142CB9EF23D9CAA6D3637 Image Caption: Chandrasinghe celebrates a century for club side Casey-South Melbourne // C M Thomas Photography

"But the way he stood up and fought all the way through says so much about him as a person.

"We know he's going to get better and better, and more shots will come into his repertoire as he gets older.

"But to start off like that against a Test quality attack in many respects is super impressive."

Silk especially is a poignant comparison, given Chandrasinghe's 311-ball century today was the slowest in the Sheffield Shield since the Tassie skipper took 341 balls to reach the milestone in the 2012-13 final in Hobart.

Like Silk, Chandrasinghe, who balances his cricket commitments while studying commerce part-time at university, is a "phenomenal athlete" and draws further similarities with his lightning running between the wickets and game-changing fielding.

Image Id: 89230D0CA8B440629C34333809C78956 Image Caption: Chandrasinghe in action during a Second XI match against Tasmania in Footscray last season // Getty

The batter, of Sri Lankan descent who was raised in Melbourne's southeast where he now plays his Premier Cricket, said he grew up idolising legendary left-handers Mike Hussey and Kumar Sangakkara and "owes pretty much everything" that he's achieved in his career thus far to his beloved club.

"I started from fourth grade and worked my way up," he said after play on Sunday.

"I started there when I was quite young (13 years old), I grew up at Casey-South Melbourne so it's a great credit to the boys and the coaches there.

"I didn't really make much of an impact (in the) junior pathways and championships that some of the other players have so it was good to find another way to get through and come up the ranks."