Dimuth Karunaratne to play for Yorkshire, becomes second Lankan after Lakmal to play County this season

Sri Lanka Test skipper Dimuth Karunaratne for has been signed by Yorkshire for the forthcoming county cricket season. Karunaratne is likely to play four first-class games before joining his national team, which is scheduled to play two-match Test series against Bangladesh in May this year.

This will be the debut county stint for the left-hander Karunaratne as Sri Lanka Cricket has issued him the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to travel to England. Thus, he is expected to leave the country on April 10 after completing his national commitments.

Notably, the 33-year old batter will be the second Sri Lankan player to join County Championship in England this season after the recently retired Suranga Lakmal signed with Derbyshire on a two-year contract.

“It has always been my dream to play in the County Championship,” said SL Test skipper Dimuth Karunaratne. Earlier in February 2021, Karunaratne got the opportunity to play for Nottinghamshire, unfortunately, he lost the chance due to visa clearance issues and the health protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of late, the right-handed batter had a superb form display with the Sri Lanka test squad in the last 15 months, where he aggregated 1068 runs in nine matches with an average of 62.82.

The consistent performer in the longest format of the game, Karunaratne was the third-highest run-scorer in the Test format in 2021 and was also nominated for the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award in 2021.