Asitha Madusanka Fernando (born 31 July 1997) is a professional Sri Lankan

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er currently plays all three formats of the game as the frontline bowler. He also plays for the

Jaffna Kings Jaffna Kings (), formerly known as Jaffna Stallions, is a franchise cricket team which plays in the Lanka Premier League (LPL). Kings are the current title holder of the tournament. The team was coached by former Sri Lankan captain Thilina K ...

in the Lanka Premier League (LPL).

Under 19 and domestic career

Prior to his Test selection, he was part of Sri Lanka's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was the leading pace bowler in the World Cup for Sri Lanka who finished the tournament as semi-finalists courtesy of bowling performances of Fernando and Lahiru Kumara. He made his

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

debut for

Chilaw Marians Cricket Club Chilaw Marians Cricket Club are a first-class cricket team based in Chilaw, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in t ...

in the

2017–18 SLC Twenty20 Tournament The 2017–18 SLC Twenty20 Tournament was a Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka. It was played between domestic teams in Sri Lanka, with the tournament starting on 24 February 2018 and concluding on 8 March 2018. The matches w ...

on 24 February 2018. In March 2018, he was named in Dumbulla's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. The following month, he was also named in Dambulla's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament. He was the leading wicket-taker for Dambulla in the tournament, with six dismissals in three matches. In August 2018, he was named in Colombo's squad the 2018 SLC T20 League. In March 2019, he was named in Colombo's squad for the 2019 Super Provincial One Day Tournament. In January 2020, in the 2019–20 SLC Twenty20 Tournament, he took six wickets for eight runs for

. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Galle Gladiators for the inaugural edition of the

Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional franchise cricket league established in 2020 in Sri Lanka. Matches are played using the Twenty20 cricket format by five teams named after Sri Lankan cities. The league was int ...

. In August 2021, he was named in the SLC Reds team for the 2021 SLC Invitational T20 League tournament. In December 2024, Fernando agreed a contract to play for

Glamorgan County Cricket Club Glamorgan County Cricket Club () is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Gla ...

in their first seven matches of the 2025

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

season.

International career

In July 2016 he was named in Sri Lanka's

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) ...

squad for their series against Australia, but he did not play. Fernando was included in Sri Lanka's

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) squad for the series against Zimbabwe. He made his ODI debut on 8 July 2017 at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in the fourth ODI against Zimbabwe, but did not able to take a wicket. He made his international debut for the

Sri Lanka cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, (; ) nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 Internat ...

in July 2017. In February 2018, he was named in Sri Lanka's

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) squad for their series against Bangladesh, but he did not play. In May 2018, he was named in Sri Lanka's

squad for their series against the West Indies. In December 2018, he was named in Sri Lanka team for the

2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup The 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup was the third edition of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup held in Karachi, Pakistan and Colombo, Sri Lanka. Eight teams participated in the tournament including five under-23 age level teams of Test nations and ...

. In August 2019, he was named in a twenty-two man squad for Sri Lanka's Test series against New Zealand. However, he was not named in the final fifteen-man squad for the first Test. In November 2019, he was named in Sri Lanka's squad for the

2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup The 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup was the fourth edition of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup held in Bangladesh between 14 and 23 November 2019. Eight teams participated in the tournament, including five under-23 age level teams of Test cricket ...

in Bangladesh. Later the same month, he was named in Sri Lanka's squad for the cricket tournament at the

2019 South Asian Games The 2019 South Asian Games, officially the XIII South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event which was originally slated to be held from 9 to 18 March 2019 in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. However, the dates were postponed and the event was ...

. The Sri Lanka team won the silver medal, after they lost to Bangladesh by seven wickets in the final. In December 2019, he was added to Sri Lanka's

squad for their tour to Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan in 2019–20. He replaced

Suranga Lakmal Ranasinghe Arachchige Suranga Lakmal (; born 10 March 1987) is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer, who played in all formats of the game and is a former Test cricket captain. He is a right-arm fast bowler and right-handed batsman. He sta ...

, who was ruled out of the tour due to

dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after i ...

. In March 2020, he was added to Sri Lanka's

(T20I) squad for the series against the West Indies, replacing Nuwan Pradeep. In December 2020, Fernando was named in Sri Lanka's Test squad for their series against South Africa. He made his Test debut for Sri Lanka, against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, on 3 January 2021. In February 2021, Fernando was named in Sri Lanka's T20I squad for their series against the West Indies. In July 2021, he was named in Sri Lanka's squad for their series against India. In May 2022, in the second match of the series against Bangladesh, Fernando took his first

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Takin ...

in Test cricket in second innings, with 6/51. He also took four wickets in first innings. In that process he took 10 for 141 from the match. This is his first 10-wicket haul. In August 2022, he was named in Sri Lanka's T20I squad for the

2022 Asia Cup The 2022 Asia Cup (also known as DP World Asia Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, with the matches played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) during August and September 2022 in the United Arab Em ...

. He made his T20I debut on 1 September 2022, against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. In May 2024, he was named as a reserve player in Sri Lanka’s squad for the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

tournament. On August 30, 2024, second test match against England at Lords Asitha took his second five wicket haul (5/102) . He became only the second Sri Lankan bowler after Rumesh Ratnayake to have his name in the Lord’s Honours Board. Asitha describe this feat as dream come true for him. Due to his performance he reached 8th place in ICC test bowling rankings. Asitha became highest wicket taker in the series taking 17 wickets in 3 matches with average of 24.64 including one five wicket haul and one four wicket haul.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando, Asitha 1997 births Living people Cricketers from Western Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Sri Lankan sportsmen South Asian Games medalists in cricket South Asian Games silver medalists for Sri Lanka Chilaw Marians Cricket Club cricketers Colombo Cricket Club cricketers Galle Gladiators cricketers Jaffna Kings cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Sri Lankan expatriate cricketers in England Puttalam District cricketers Glamorgan cricketers