Johanne Abeyratne Samarasekera (born 22 February 1968) is a former Sri Lankan-born

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 who played for the

United Arab Emirates national cricket team The United Arab Emirates men's national cricket team is the team that represents the United Arab Emirates in international cricket. They are governed by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) which became an Affiliate Member of the International Cri ...

. After playing twelve first-class games for his native Colombo in 1988–89, Samarasekera emigrated to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. He made the national side for the 1994 Pepsi Austral-Asia Cup in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

, where he played in his first two

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 ...

s, and also competed for the UAE in the 1994

ICC Trophy The Cricket World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the qualification pro ...

, where he was named the best bowler of the tournament, having taken 18 wickets. After playing in the 1995–96 Interface Cup, a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

competition also involving A sides from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

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 the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, he was selected for the UAE in the 1996 World Cup. Samarasekera fared poorly in that competition and was not selected for the national side again. He played 7 ODIs for the UAE and scored 124 runs at an average of 31.00; his highest score was 47. He also bagged 4 wickets for 236 runs with a best bowling of 1/17 and an economy rate of 4.82

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* 1968 births Living people Sri Lankan cricketers Emirati cricketers Colombo Cricket Club cricketers United Arab Emirates One Day International cricketers Cricketers from Colombo Sri Lankan emigrants to the United Arab Emirates Sri Lankan expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates 20th-century Sri Lankan sportsmen {{SriLanka-cricket-bio-1960s-stub