SHANAKA Perumpuli is balancing his time between the cricket pitch and the classroom.
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The Mailors Flat batsman’s hectic study schedule isn’t impacting his on-field performances in the Grassmere Cricket Association, scoring 91 and 112 against Woolsthorpe over the past two Saturdays.
Perumpuli travels to Melbourne during the week to study a Diploma of Hospitality at Altec and returns home to Warrnambool for cricket on the weekends.
“I came here originally to play cricket, but now I’m studying in Melbourne,” he said. “I will do a couple of days there and then come back here and play cricket on the weekends.”
The Jets opener is hoping to become a chef once he completes his university degree, with ambitions of returning home to Sri Lanka, to help his family.
“My family have a business back in Sri Lanka that my father once owned and now my brother runs it,” he said. “Once I finish my studies I'll go back home and run the family business.”
But before he heads home, the Jets batsman will move onto Holmesglen to study a bachelor of Hospitality, whilst continuing his red-hot form in the GCA where he was pleased to score his maiden division one two-day century on Saturday.
“It was good to finally get it, because the last week I made 91, I’m really happy about it,” he said. “We have been struggling this season, and it gets quite hard with the batting at times, but when our captain Phillip Edwards is there with me it becomes easier.
“He and I have a good relationship on and off the field, so when I bat with him I feel more comfortable and make more runs, which is evident over the last two weeks.”