Mahela Jayawardene left the country for England to take part in the forthcoming NatWest T20 Blast representing Sussex. 

 

Sussex signed Jayawardene for the first half of this season’s NatWest T20 Blast. He will be replaced by George Bailey for the remaining fixtures.

 

The 37-year-old batsman, who will be available for Sussex’s opening seven matches of the competition, has scored more than 4,000 runs in 170 Twenty20 matches during his career, including almost 1,500 runs in 55 T20 internationals.

 

He was part of the Sri Lanka side that won the ICC World Twenty20 title last year – having also helped them reach the final in 2012 and 2009 – before announcing his retirement from the shortest form of the game at international level.

 

The former Sri Lanka captain, who has never played county cricket, said: “I am really exciting about basing myself down at Hove and playing for Sussex during the first half of the summer.

 

“Sussex is a great club with a proud history and I want to help them win the NatWest T20 Blast this year.”

 

Sussex begin their NatWest T20 Blast campaign with the short trip to Kent on Friday 15 May.

(With inputs from The Guardian)