Injuries to Luke Fletcher and Olly Stone meant an increased workload for new ball bowlers Brett Hutton and Dane Paterson so Nottinghamshire wisely strengthened their attack for the run-in to the 2023 County Championship by signing Sri Lankan fast bowler Asitha Fernando on a short-term contract.
The right-armer joined with three games remaining but played in only two of them; one of those, away to Lancashire, was reduced to a single innings by persistent rain. Nevertheless, he chipped in with six wickets across the three innings in which he bowled, helping Notts secure the bowling points that confirmed they would stay in Division One.
The 26-year-old, he was born on 31 July 1997, made his Test debut in January 2021, having first been called up to his country’s red-ball squad in 2016 - the same year he took seven wickets for Sri Lanka A against Pakistan A at Grace Road.
Fernando is only the second Sri Lankan to play for Notts, the first being Gamini Goonesena, a leg spinner who played in the 1950s.
October 2023
Nottinghamshire First Class Number 671
Asitha Fernando’s career stats (to date) can be seen here