Kevin an aspiring young cricketer

Sport has always been a way of life for those that live in Australia. This is no different for Kevin Tissera, an aspiring young cricketer plying his trade in Melbourne. After finishing his schooling late last year Kevin, whose father is of Sri Lankan heritage and mother of Indian heritage, has been lucky enough to have spent the last two months training and playing cricket in Sri Lanka. "The aim was to come to Sri Lanka and really work hard on my cricketing skills," said Kevin.

A leg spinner and middle order batsman, he spoke highly of Sri Lanka's spin assets. "The reason why I wanted to come to Sri Lanka over the (Australian) winter was especially to work on the bowling aspect of my game," says Kevin. "Working with some of the spin coaches here in Sri Lanka, I've been able to identify some of the flaws which were holding me back as a bowler and begin to eradicate them from my game."

He spent most of his time in Sri Lanka in Kurunegala, training with their Under 23's squad as well as playing a couple of games during the tournament.

"I worked a lot with Ajith Ekanayaka (the Provincial Coach) who is one of my dad's good friends and who initially invited me to come to Sri Lanka," said Kevin. "We did a lot of bowling indoors, and worked on things like using my front arm more and changing my run-up and gather. The two District Coaches (at Kurunegala), Sajith Rupasinha and Prasad Ranawake also helped me a lot, taking me for sessions even though they were pretty busy, so I really want to thank all of them."

Back in Melbourne, Kevin played his cricket at Springvale South Cricket Club as well as Dandenong Cricket Club in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition. He also captained his school (Mazenod College) First XI last year. Outside of club cricket, he works on hard on his batting with his coach Owen Mottau, a former Sri Lankan batting guru who has worked with the likes of Mahela, as well as the likes of Tendulkar and Dravid. He has also being working with Dr. Rene Ferdinands, a cricket bio-mechanist, on his bowling.

Earlier this year, Kevin was selected as one of twelve boys to be a part of Cricket Australia's Multicultural Talent and Leadership Program, the first time Cricket Australia and developed such a program.

As a part of the program, Kevin will be working closely with Cricket Australia.

Outside of playing cricket, Kevin is also a budding coach, having recently undertaken his Level Two coaching program and is in the process of completing of receiving his Level Two Coaching Accreditation.

As his time in Sri Lanka is quickly coming to an end, Kevin said that he wanted to thank a few people who helped him to come to Sri Lanka, and they include Mike Cooke (UK), Raja de Alwis from Melbourne. He also spoke highly of the country and people. "It's a really beautiful country to come to: the people are so helpful and nice." He said that he enjoyed himself so much; he hopes to come back next year and make this a regular thing. "I would really love to come back to Sri Lanka next year and play in the Under 23 Tournament. I really want to keep working with the coaches and improve my bowling and become and really good cricketer."