Former Sri Lanka cricketer Suraj Randiv opts bus driving profession in Australia to make ends meet

Sri Lanka’s right-arm off-spinner Suraj Randiv, who was a part of Sri Lanka’s ICC 2011 World Cup squad, is now working as a bus driver in Australia to earn his living. Apart from Suraj, one Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe cricketer namely Chinthaka Namaste and Waddington Mwayenga have migrated to Australia and work as bus drivers in Melbourne for a French-based company known as Transdev.

The three cricketers play for local cricket clubs but had to choose a different career path too to earn their bread and butter and survive in Australia. Transdev is a company that employs 1200 drivers from diverse professions and the three cricketers are hoping that public transports can get their respective cricket teams in the near future.

Suraj Randiv has represented Sri Lanka in 12 Test matches scalping 43 wickets at an economy of 3.07 along with scoring 147 runs at an average of 9.2. As far as limited-overs format is concerned, the spinner has featured in 31 One Day Internationals and 7 T20 Internationals picking 36 and 7 wickets respectively at an economy of 5.06 and 6.61.

Out of the three cricketers, Randiv is the only one who plays at district level in Australia. He also represents Dandenong Cricket Club, which is affiliated with Victoria Premier Cricket and takes part in Cricket Australia State Competitions. A few notable Australian cricketers including James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Sarah Elliot have played for the same cricket club in the past.

I was asked by CA to come and bowl against their bowlers: Suraj Randiv

Suraj had recently helped Australia National Cricket team players in preparing for the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy against India, which was clinched by the visiting nation by 2-1. Speaking about the same, the 36-year-old revealed that Cricket Australia (CA) had called him to help the Australian players practice for the Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

‘I was asked by CA to come and bowl against their bowlers and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity,’ Randiv said in a video uploaded by 9 News.

Coming to Chinthaka Namaste and Waddington Mwayenga, since his debut against India on December 9, 2009, Chinthaka had represented Sri Lanka in 5 T20 Internationals scoring 49 runs while Waddington was a medium-fast bowler for Zimbabwe playing a solitary Test and three ODIs during 2005 and 2006.