Gayan Sirisoma

Gayan Sirisoma is a veteran left-arm spinner who has lorded Sri Lankan domestic cricket for nearly two decades. He is currently the fifth leading wicket-taker in Sri Lankan first-class cricket.

Since his first-class debut in 2002/03, Sirisoma has taken 615 wickets at 19.57 in 116 matches, not to mention 109 wickets at 22.43 in white-ball cricket. He has taken 52 five-wicket bags and 20 ten-wicket match hauls.

He has starred for numerous provincial sides and over the past decade he has dominated for Lankan Cricket Club (2006/07-2011/12 – 148 wickets at 16.95), Panadura Sports Club (2012/13-2016/17 – 202 wickets at 15.85) and Galle Cricket Club (2015/16-2017/18 – 101 wickets at 21.73).

He has taken 50 plus wickets in 6 seasons (40 plus in another 2), topped the first-class wicket charts in 2006/07 (60 wickets at 15.50), 2016/17 (91 wickets at 12.28) and 2017/18 (55 wickets at 18.61) and finished runner-up in 2012/13 (58 wickets at 15.27) and 2013/14 (53 wickets at 22.62). Proving age is just a number, Sirisoma took 38 wickets at 16.84 in 2018/19 with 3 five-wicket hauls.

Whilst the domestic legend hasn’t featured for Sri Lanka, mainly due to the likes of Murali and Herath, he has excelled abroad during three UK league stints. He starred for Eppleton (2007 - Durham Senior League), East Molesey (2014 – Surrey Championship), and Hornchurch (2019 - Essex Premier League). The highlights - topping the Championship Division 1 wicket-charts for Molesey (52 wickets at 12.25) and 62 wickets at 14.56 in league/cup cricket for Hornchurch last summer.

The experienced campaigner, who is also an enthusiastic, UKCC level 2 coach, is now keen to embark on his fourth stint abroad in 2020. He is someone we whole-heartedly recommend.