Dickwella Patabendige Dilantha Niroshan Dickwella, known as Niroshan Dickwella (born 23 June 1993), is a professional Sri Lankan

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, who plays all formats of the game for Sri Lanka. A left-hand batsman, he also plays as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

of the team. Dickwella is known for hitting left handed

Dilscoop A paddle scoop, Marillier shot or ramp shot is a modern cricketing shot. Players have used it more and more often in One Day International and Twenty20 cricket matches, since it appeared in the early 21st century. The player makes the shot by posi ...

s. In November 2017, he was named the emerging cricketer of the year for the 2016–17 season at

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Cricket for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on 30 June 1975 as a national spo ...

's annual awards.

Domestic and T20 franchise career

In March 2018, he was named as the vice-captain of Kandy's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. He was the leading run-scorer for Kandy during the tournament, with 315 runs in three matches. The following month, he was also named as the vice-captain of Kandy's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament. In August 2018, he was named in Galle's squad the

2018 SLC T20 League The 2018 SLC T20 League was a domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka, between 21 August and 2 September 2018. Four teams took part in the tournament: Colombo, Dambulla, Galle and Kandy. The Rangiri Dambulla International ...

. In March 2019, he was named in Dambulla's squad for the 2019 Super Provincial One Day Tournament. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Montreal Tigers franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Dambulla Viiking for the inaugural edition of the

Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional cricket league in Sri Lanka in Twenty20 format contested every year by teams representing Sri Lankan cities from 2020. The league was founded by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in 201 ...

. In November 2021, he was selected to play for the

Dambulla Giants Dambulla Aura, previously known as Dambulla Viiking and Dambulla Giants, are a franchise Twenty20 cricket team based in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, that competes in the Lanka Premier League (LPL). In June 2021, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) terminated the ...

following the players' draft for the 2021 Lanka Premier League. In July 2022, he was signed by the

Colombo Stars Colombo Stars, formerly known as Colombo Kings, is a franchise Twenty20 cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, that competes in the Lanka Premier League. Ashoka Pathirage, a Sri Lankan businessman, owns the team. The team was supposed to be ...

for the third edition of the Lanka Premier League.

International career

He made his

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

debut for

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in July 2014. He made his

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

debut for Sri Lanka against India on 16 November 2014. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) debut for Sri Lanka against India on 9 February 2016. Dickwella was originally included into

2016 ICC World Twenty20 The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC World Twenty20, the world championship of Twenty20 International cricket. It was held in India from 8 March to 3 April 2016, and was the first edition to be hosted by India. Seven ...

Sri Lanka squad, but due to poor performances in India tour and 2016 Asia Cup, he was dropped from the world cup squad. Dickwella was called up for the South African limited over tour after fine performances in domestic tournaments. He was included in the T20I side as the opening batsman and scored quick innings in all three matches. He scored his maiden T20I fifty as a match-winning knock in the third match, which ensured the first series win against South Africa on their home soil in any format. Dickwella was adjudged both man of the match and player of the series for his match-winning batting performances. After the ban, he looked forward to coming back to the squad for second ODI against Bangladesh in late March 2017. However, he was ruled out of the series due to hairline fracture in his left hand. He scored his first ODI century on 6 July 2017 against Zimbabwe at the

Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, also known as Sooriyawewa International Cricket Stadium ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාංගනය, ta ...

. Along with

Danushka Gunathilaka Mashtayage Danushka Gunathilaka (born 17 March 1991) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who plays as a top-order batter in all forms of the game. He has also been occasionally sidelined due to disciplinary issues. He is currently released on ...

, they made a 229-run partnership for the first wicket, where Gunathilaka also scored his first ODI century. Sri Lanka chased 310 to win the match, which was the first 300-plus chase by Sri Lanka on home soil. In the fourth ODI against Zimbabwe, he and

set the record for becoming the first pair of batsmen to score two successive 200-plus partnerships in ODIs. In May 2018, he was one of 33 cricketers to be awarded a national contract by

ahead of the 2018–19 season. In March 2021, during the first Test against the West Indies, he set a new record for scoring the most half centuries by a batsman (17) in Test cricket without scoring a century, passing the previous record held by

Chetan Chauhan Chetan Pratap Singh Chauhan (; 21 July 1947 – 16 August 2020) was a cricketer who played 40 Test cricket, Test matches for Indian cricket team, India. He played Ranji Trophy for Maharashtra and Delhi. He played most of his international crick ...

. In June 2022, he was named in the Sri Lanka A squad for their matches against Australia A during Australia's tour of Sri Lanka. In the Australian Test series in July 2022, Sri Lanka suffered a huge defeat, with the match ending in three days. In the match, Dickwella was the only Sri Lankan player to score a fifty, scoring 58 runs in the first innings.

Disciplinary issues

In July 2014, on his Test debut, he was fined 10% of the match fees for claiming unfair catch. During the fourth ODI against South Africa on 7 February 2017, Dickwella had a verbal encounter with

Kagiso Rabada Kagiso Rabada (born 25 May 1995) is a South African international cricketer who plays all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He made his international debut in November 2014 in limited-overs cricket before going on to make his ...

and was fined, along with gaining three demerit points. On 21 February 2017, Dickwella was suspended for two limited over matches, after a Code of Conduct breach during the second T20I against Australia at

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a number of ...

. He was fined 30% of his match fees and was given two more demerit points. In July 2017, Dickwella was fined 30 percent of his match fee and received two demerit points for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct. during the ODI against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. On 28 June 2021,

(SLC) suspended Dickwella,

Kusal Mendis Balapuwaduge Kusal Gimhan Mendis, generally known as Kusal Mendis is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who plays as a top-order batter in all forms of the game. He only played sixteen first-class matches before playing for the national side. ...

and

after they breached the team's

bio-secure bubble A bio-secure bubble, also known as a bubble, or hub city, was a hosting arrangement for sporting events that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, under which events were held at a centralized site, often behind closed doors, with strict quarant ...

during Sri Lanka's tour of England. All three players were seen in the city centre of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, with SLC sending them all back home ahead of the ODI matches. In July 2021, following the outcome of the incident, Dickwella was suspended from playing in international cricket for one year. Sri Lanka Cricket agreed to lift the ban early, rescinding the punishment in January 2022.

Accolades

*Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2012 *Dialog SLC Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2016–17.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickwella, Niroshan 1993 births Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Colombo Commandos cricketers Living people Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Southern Express cricketers Wayamba cricketers Saint Lucia Kings cricketers Dambulla Aura cricketers Wicket-keepers