Sri Lankan gun Sanjaya Chathuranga signs at Warrnambool and District powerhouse Nestles for 2022-23 season

The Factory will be bolstered by 30-year-old Sanjaya 'Sunny' Chathuranga this season, with the leg-spinner and top-order bat previously playing eight games for East Warrnambool in 2014-15, where he snared 21 wickets and made 176 runs.

The crafty talent currently plays for Panadura in the Sri Lankan first-class competition and has experience playing in the highly-regarded Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association.

In 2015-16 he took the Melbourne-based turf competition by storm, snaring 34 wickets from 11 matches including a best of 8-13 for Plenty Valley. He also spent a season at Mt Waverley in 2019/20, taking 16 scalps and making 228 runs.

He spent time in the Sri Lankan Development Squad after his stint with Plenty Valley.

Factory president Gary MacLean said the club was delighted to welcome in a player of his calibre to the club and the association after linking up with him through Michael Sheedy at TNF Cricket.

"We jumped at it, he brings a difference to our side being a leg-spinner, top-order bat but it's the leg-spinning side of it that was really attractive," he said.

"He comes with a good reputation for his ability, but he comes as just a really good person, that's just as important.

"When we contacted him originally through Sheeds, there wouldn't be too many days he wouldn't be sending us messages asking how we were going and updating us."

MacLean added he would play a strong role off-field too in developing the next wave of players coming through the club.

"Knowing who he was and what he'll bring to our cricket club is exciting and he'll do a fair bit of coaching at our club, whether one-on-one or in groups especially with our junior teams, that'll be one of his main roles," he said.

He said he hoped the all-rounder would arrive in Australia in the next few weeks with his family, potentially for the first turf match of the season and believed he would settle in to town nicely after his previous stint eight years ago.

"We're potentially investing in someone who we won't be missing much cricket with. He might miss a game or two but the season is really only about to start," he said.

"For us, it's a family thing coming over and we've got a fair few husband-wife situations at the club anyway, so we feel it's going to be a really good fit.

"He knows his way around in Warrnambool, he's kept in contact with people he knows so he'll look forward to reuniting with some people in the past. If all goes well, we'll hopefully work towards him next season as well."

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