By Marcus Uhe
Making a hundred, batting with a club icon with friends and family in the stands, and hitting the winning runs in a thumping victory over a fancied opponent.
Debuts hardly get more special than that, as Dandenong batter Dhanusha Gamage can attest, following his first foray into the world of the top flight of Premier Cricket on the weekend.
Gamage came to the crease at 1/20 in the eighth over and only left when the job was done, finishing unbeaten on 124 as he clipped a single to the leg side to complete the chase of 257, having shared a 237-run partnership with his captain, Brett Forsyth.
While the significance of the moment didn’t resonate on the day itself, he says the time since the innings came to a close has helped him appreciate the gravity of what he achieved.
“Reflecting back, that’s when it started hitting me that, I did that,” Gamage said on Monday.
“On the day, it didn’t really hit me as much, it just felt like another innings and another game, and it felt really good to get the win.
“It’s been cool, I’m pretty proud of that and even more excited about the team and getting the win and being there at the end, which definitely helps as well.”
Weight of runs in the seconds at Shepley Oval last season saw the 20-year-old force his way into the first XI in just the second game of the season this year.
Andrey Fernando presented him with his blue cap last week, having been informed at training in the days prior that he had earned a call-up by Forsyth, assistant coach Ross Woodall and new Panthers coach Tom Donnell, who forecasted big things for the 20-year-old during the preseason.
The confidence instilled in him from Donnell and Forysth to play his natural game and follow his instincts helped to navigate his way to triple figures, even surviving a dicey period in the 90s with the milestone in sight.
The innings nearly came to an end on 96 when he came uncomfortably close to chopping-on with an inside edge that just spared the timber behind him, before a drinks break on 98 gave him more time to think about the potential achievement.
But while some players may have struggled with the downtime afforded by the pause, Gamage said it allowed him to reset and refocus after an anxious few minutes.
Forsyth’s tranquillity and the conversations the two shared out in the middle, not only at drinks but during the entire innings, gave him a fascinating insight into what’s required to succeed at the level.
“The main one was how composed he was and how he wasn’t rushed even though our scoring dried up a little,” Gamage said of his observations from 22 yards away.
“His calmness, and when I wasn’t scoring as much, seeing him not panic and stick to his guns, be really calm, definitely helped me when I got into those situations when I got into them, or when I got a bit more stressed or anxious.
“Every ball he’s watching the ball and if anything’s happening off the wicket or if the ball’s doing anything, he’s communicating with me.
“He was really detailed with his analysis, so those two are probably the biggest things I can take away from him.
“And the amount of focus he has; this is his second consecutive hundred now, and not giving his wicket away is another thing that, is something I’ve done before, given my wicket away too early.”
Gamage hit the ground running this summer thanks to another winter playing in the Northern Territory.
He represented PINT in the Darwin and District Cricket Competition and Southern Storm in the Strike League, playing with and against fellow up-and-coming talents from around the country like Harrish Kannan, Lloyd Pope, Cooper Connolly and Jason Sangha.
Judging by Saturday’s performance, Gamage is already reaping early rewards for the investment in his craft, with higher honours in his sights.
“Playing there for three months definitely helped my game and getting a lot more batting time and practice in hot conditions, definitely helped as well (as last season’s results),” he said.
“I think a lot cricket is understanding what’s important and what’s not, and Darwin definitely helped with that.
“Coming back to preseason at Dandenong, I missed most of preseason but I was able to play and be at the last few weeks of preseason training, and played in the two practice matches we had.
“I’m definitely pushing for as high a level as I can go to so I’m very excited about that.”
