Ilminster is delighted to announce the signing of arguably UK club cricket’s most prolific batting professionals, Adeesha Nanayakkara, for their 2023 WEPL campaign.
Nanayakkara is a stand-out Sri Lankan professional who has dominated both home and abroad in recent years.
In domestic cricket, the hard-hitting opening bat averages in the high-30s in first-class and List A cricket. He has excelled in all formats since the 2016/17 season. In first-class (Tier A) cricketer, he has struck 512 runs at 36.57 (2016/17), 320 at 80 (2017/18), 650 at 46.42 (2018/19), 459 at 45.90 (2019/20), and 679 at 35.73 (2022/23). This trend has continued into white-ball cricket, in-particular List A where he has struck 320 at 80 (2017/18), 274 at 54.80 (2018/19), 220 at 73.33 (2019/20), and 163 at 27.16 (2021/22).
A former Sri Lankan Under-19 (2009/10) player, Nanayakkara made his List-A debut for Saracens Sports Club in 2011/12 and has subsequently represented Colombo Cricket Club, Bloomfield Cricket, and Athletic Club, SL Ports Authority, Ace Capital, Sebastianites Cricket & Athletic Club, and Sri Lankan Navy Sports Club.
The talented Sri Lankan has also performed with distinction abroad, playing for Chippenham Cricket Club (West of England Premier League) and Caythorpe (Nottinghamshire Cricket Board Premier League).
His exploits in 2018 and 2019 for Chippenham (2,196 runs at 57.79 and 61 wickets at 18.80) were instrumental in the club’s back-to-back titles and subsequent promotions, from the Wiltshire and Prem 2 (Glos/Wilts) divisions, in 2018 and 2019, respectively. It came as no surprise Chippenham re-signed their Sri Lankan star for a third stint in 2021, where he continued to shine, this time in the ECB Premier Division (873 runs at 39.68 and 21 wickets at 27.52).
However, after 3 hugely successful years at Chippenham, he moved to Caythorpe for their Nottinghamshire Cricket Board Premier League campaign. He was an absolute stand-out in Division 2, topping the run charts with 1,285 runs at 67.63 including 6 centuries. It’s fair to say Nanayakkara has statistically been one of the best batting pros in UK league cricket in recent years and is someone who has bowled both medium pace and off spin.
For season 2023, Nanayakkara is set for yet another UK stint, and a return to the West of England Premier League having signed with Ilminster for their Premier 2 (Bristol/Somerset) campaign.
