BRINSCALL skipper Liam Winstanley is delighted club professional Sehan Weerasinghe has extended his stay at School Lane for the 2019 campaign.

The Sri Lankan has been in spellbinding form in the opening months of the season and has plundered 859 runs in 16 innings including two centuries.

He has a top score of 124 and an average of 85.9 with the Brinscall man the leading runscorer across both sections of the Ribblesdale League.

That form has helped Brinscall to five wins from their first seven games, six of them against Section A sides, leaving them second in the Section B table ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Feniscowles.

And skipper Winstanley, whose side have also impressed in the T20 where they have secured a home quarter final with Read, admits the club were keen to secure Weerasinghe’s services given his start to life in East Lancashire.

“Clearly he is a very, very good player,” said Winstanley of his pro. “He is getting a lot of runs and is also very good with the ball and does exactly what you want a pro to do.

“Other lads can play around him and he is giving the other players confidence as well.

“He is an absolute professional and has thrown himself into everything at the club.

“We wanted him to stay and it was a pretty quick conversation to be honest.

“He wanted to stay and we are very happy that he will be back next season.”

The impact Weerasinghe has had is even more impressive given that he was a late acquisition for Brinscall.

The club had originally lined up his countryman Dushan Vimukthi but he was then handed a contract in his homeland which meant he would have been unavailable until mid June.

As a result, Brinscall acted quickly to bring in Weerasinghe and neither player nor club have looked back since.

“It was a quick deal,” added Winstanley. “Dushan’s contract meant he was unavailable for May and that was no good to us really. We used an agent and the same one set us up with Sehan. It was all done very quickly and he has really performed for us.

“I am chuffed to bits to see him sign for next season as well.”

Brinscall will be aiming to continue their fine start to the season at Feniscowles this weekend and cement their place in the promotion places in Section B - not that Winstanley is engaging in talk of a title push just yet.

“I am not getting carried away,” he added. “We had a great start last season, I think we were in a very similar position to this and then we barley won another game so it is just week by week for me.

“We have a tough game at Feniscowles this weekend, they have started quite well and are in a much better position than they were a year ago so we will have to be on our game.

“I am sure they will see it as a game they can win and it is always difficult away from home so we know we will have to be at our best to get a result.”

Elsewhere tomorrow, Section B leaders Cherry Tree are on the road at Euxton while bottom of the table Earby make the trip to Salesbury.

Defending champions Settle will look to continue their 100 per cent start to the season when they welcome Oswaldtwistle Immanuel in Section A while struggling Barnoldswick are on the road at Whalley.

The other games see Padiham entertain Baxenden and Ribblesdale Wanderers visit Read.