Ashington CC's new professional reflects on his first match for the club

Unfortunately, although the 24-year-old featured, he wasn’t able to steer the Mighty Acorns towards a third consecutive win after they went down by one wicket in the penultimate over of their North-East Premier League Premier Division home clash against Shotley Bridge.

Harmison said afterwards: “Avishka’s performance was brilliant. He only arrived here on Thursday and looked good and organised in the nets.

“First and foremost, he’s a lovely lad which is great. He wants to contribute all the time, offering his ideas and perspective on how they would do things in Sri Lanka.

“He’ll bowl a lot more. He pocketed two great catches; took a wicket and looked good with the bat until he was out for 38, and looks as if he is going to settle in nicely.”

Perera – who was born in Columbo - said he was still acclimatising to conditions in Wansbeck.

“The weather is ok today but it is different to Sri Lanka and I’m still acclimatising,” he commented after the game.

“The club members welcomed me in a nice way and I would like to play more cricket here.”

He was happy with his debut, and said: “It was disappointing to lose the game but I enjoyed it.

“It was a good match and a pretty good wicket, and I’m looking forward to having a good season.

“In Sri Lanka the wickets are slower and more likely to take spin, whilst here it seems as if the ball is always doing something for the seamers.”

Harmison was disappointed by the defeat and said the team’s performance in the field fell below their usual standard.

He said: “It wasn’t good enough in both bowling and fielding, and all of the lads know that.

“We were too flat with not enough energy, not enough voices, and I’m not sure if there was a bit of complacency.

“Bowling-wise, we just couldn’t string two or three overs together with the pressure which we normally apply and there were too many release balls and too many extras.”