Sri Lankan leg-spinner Ruwantha Kellapotha has been signed by Melbourne Renegades to play in the 12th season of Big Bash League in Australia.
The 31-year-old Kellapotha will join the Melbourne Renegades as their first overseas player replacement this season.
Kellapotha, a product of St. Thomas’ College, Matale had played first class cricket in Sri Lanka from 2010-2013 before moving to Australia to play club cricket in Melbourne.
After playing for Dandenong District Cricket Association for several years, he got an opportunity to play Premier Cricket with Casey-South Melbourne last summer. This is where he caught the attention of the cricket fraternity down under as he managed to claim 46 wickets across First XI and Super Slam matches becoming the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.
Due to those impressive performances, Kellapotha managed to get selected for the Melbourne Renegades Academy squad where he played Top End T20 series in Darwin. The management of Melbourne Renegades franchise were impressed with Kellapotha’s performances there which allowed him to secure a place in the Renegades’ squad for BBL 12.
Melbourne Renegades Squad (so far): Nic Maddinson (C), Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey, Akeal Hosein*, Ruwantha Kellapotha*, Liam Livingstone*, Shaun Marsh, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Will Sutherland, Mujeeb Ur Rahman*, Jon Wells
