Anhettige Suresh Asanka Perera (born 16 February 1978), known as Suresh Perera, is a former Sri Lankan international

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 str ...

er. A right-handed

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

, he played three

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and 20 One Day International (ODI) matches for the Sri Lankan national team, with his international career spanning from June 1998 to December 2001.

School times

From

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

, and educated at

Isipathana College Isipathana College (formerly known as Greenlands College) is a national school for boys located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Founded in January 1952, the school was initially named Isipathana Maha Vidalaya, but is now referred to simply as "Isipathan ...

Domestic career

At domestic level, he played for seven different teams in a career spanning from December 1995 to October 2009, though most of his matches came for the

-based

Sinhalese Sports Club The Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. Singhalese is the most successful club in Sri Lankan domestic cricket, having won the Premier Trophy a record 32 times to 2017. Although the name is correctly spelt wi ...

. After retiring, he emigrated to Australia. Perera made his first-class debut in December 1995, aged 17, playing two matches for the

in the

Saravanamuttu Trophy The Major League Tournament (formerly known as the Premier Trophy) is the main domestic first-class cricket competition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1938 and has existed under a number of different names. Matches before the 1988–89 seas ...

.First-class matches played by Suresh Perera (88)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 May 2014. During the 1997–98 season, he played nine first-class matches,
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 May 2014. taking 29 wickets at an average of 19.03,
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 May 2014. and also debuted for Sri Lanka A. He made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

debut on 17 August 2004, for

Colombo Cricket Club The Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It is the oldest in the country, having been formed in 1863, and is headquartered at 31 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7, close to the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket. Hi ...

in the

2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament The 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament is the 1st season of the official Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Sri Lanka. 15 teams in total, five representing four provinces of Sri Lanka and a Sri Lanka Schools XI team participating in the compet ...

. At domestic level, Perera recorded his highest first-class score, 78 runs, against the

Moors Sports Club Moors Sports Club is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. History Moors Sports Club was founded by members of Colombo Grand Mosque at New Moor Street in the Colombo neighbourhood of Pettah. Like most clubs founded during the c ...

during the 2000–01 season. His best bowling figures, 7/73, had come against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, when Sri Lanka A toured during the 1999 English season. Perera left Sinhalese at the end of the 2002–03 season, and subsequently played for Colombo CC during the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons, Badureliya SC during the 2005–06 season, and Moors during the 2007–08, 2008–09, and 2009–10 seasons, as well as for two

teams, Wayamba and Kandurata, in 2008 and 2009, respectively. His last match at a major level came in October 2009, for Moors against Ragama CC in the Premier Limited Overs Tournament.

International career

Perera made his ODI debut in the 1998 Singer-Akai Nidahas Trophy, and played two matches against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and one against

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.ODI matches played by Suresh Perera (20)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 May 2014. He made his Test debut on Sri Lanka's 1998 tour of England, scoring 43

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

batting ninth in Sri Lanka's first innings and taking the wicket of

Alec Stewart Alec James Stewart (born 8 April 1963) is an English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is the fourth-most- capped E ...

.Test matches played by Suresh Perera (3)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 May 2014. In his innings, he recorded six boundaries (including one six) as he "eviscerated an England attack containing

Darren Gough Darren Gough (born 18 September 1970) is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's second highest wicket-taker in one-da ...

Angus Fraser Angus Robert Charles Fraser (born 8 August 1965) is an English cricket administrator. He served as the managing director of Middlesex Cricket between 2009 and 2021, before assuming a new role heading the club's academy He is also a former E ...

, and

Dominic Cork Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

".Tristan Lavalette (12 May 2014)
"Bassendean's Sri Lankan star who wasn't"
– ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 13 May 2014. Later in the year, Perera represented Sri Lanka in the cricket competition at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''( Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unpreceden ...

, with the team losing the play-off for the bronze medal to New Zealand.List A matches played by Suresh Perera (105)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 May 2014. Perera was restricted by stress fractures in his back for several seasons, but returned to international level in the 2001 Coca-Cola Cup, a triangular tournament featuring India and New Zealand. He played in all seven of Sri Lanka's matches at the tournament, and was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in the second game. In this match, against India, he scored 28 runs in a 49-run eighth-wicket

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

with

Kumar Dharmasena Deshabandu Handunnettige Deepthi Priyantha Kumar Dharmasena (born 24 April 1971), popularly as Kumar Dharmasena, is a Sri Lankan cricket umpire and former international cricketer. He is a member of the ICC Elite Panel Umpires and the first and ...

(26), and then took the first two wickets to fall in India's innings. Perera played two further matches for Sri Lanka when India stayed on in the country to play a three-Test series. Known for his "sideways-on whippy action", after the first Test, he was reported for a suspect action by umpire

Steve Bucknor Stephen Anthony Bucknor, OJ (born 31 May 1946) is a Jamaican former international cricket umpire. Bucknor umpired in a record 128 Test matches between 1989 and 2009, and also umpired in 181 One Day Internationals during this period, includi ...

. Perera had also been reported during a previous domestic season, by Asoka de Silva. He resumed playing in December 2001 after remodelling his action and having it cleared by Sri Lanka Cricket. The second game against India was Perera's last Test match, with two ODIs during the 2001 LG Abans Triangular Series his last matches at international level.

After retirement

Perera moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, in the late 2000s, with his wife, who had been raised in the city. When not playing cricket, he had worked as a bank teller in Sri Lanka, and he worked as a waiter and forklift driver in Australia before starting his own sporting goods business. As of the 2013–14 season, he was the captain of the Bassendean Cricket Club, playing in a local Perth competition.Tristin Lavalette (6 March 2014)
"What happened to Sri Lanka’s Suresh Perera?"
– The Roar. Retrieved 13 May 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perera, Suresh 1978 births Alumni of Isipathana College Badureliya Sports Club cricketers Colombo Cricket Club cricketers Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Kandurata cricketers Living people Moors Sports Club cricketers Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Wayamba cricketers Commonwealth Games competitors for Sri Lanka