Nuwan Zoysa
Encyclopedia
Demuni Nuwan Tharanga Zoysa (born May 13, 1978 in Colombo
) is a Sri Lanka
n cricket
er. He was a lanky left-arm seam bowler, who played 30 Tests
and 95 ODI's for Sri Lanka
. In his eighth Test, Zoysa became the first player in the history to take a hat-trick
off the first three balls of the match. He achieved this against Zimbabwe
at Harare
in November 1999. In his first three balls of the Test match he took the wickets of Trevor Gripper
, Murray Goodwin
and Neil Johnson.
Zoysa made his first class debut in 1996/97 and during his first season he took his career best figures of 7 for 58, playing for Sinhalese Sports Club. He made his Test debut soon after in Dunedin against New Zealand. He has gone on to take over 100 ODI wickets for Sri Lanka, the ninth to have achieved the milestone.
An aggressive lower order batsman, Zoysa once won an ODI game against Australia
with an unbeaten 47. He was also bought by the Deccan Chargers
Franchise in the IPL
but he was removed from the team for his poor performances.
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
) is a Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He was a lanky left-arm seam bowler, who played 30 Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and 95 ODI's for Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cricket team
The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...
. In his eighth Test, Zoysa became the first player in the history to take a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
off the first three balls of the match. He achieved this against Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
at Harare
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
in November 1999. In his first three balls of the Test match he took the wickets of Trevor Gripper
Trevor Gripper
Trevor Raymond Gripper is a Zimbabwean cricketer. He was born on December 28, 1975 in Salisbury - now Harare.Gripper is a somewhat solid opening batsman, who once spent four hours 23 minutes inching his way to 28 in a match against England A...
, Murray Goodwin
Murray Goodwin
Murray William Goodwin is a cricketer who played 19 Tests and 71 One Day Internationals for Zimbabwe. He is a right-handed top order batsman strong on the back-foot and a good cutter and puller of the ball....
and Neil Johnson.
Zoysa made his first class debut in 1996/97 and during his first season he took his career best figures of 7 for 58, playing for Sinhalese Sports Club. He made his Test debut soon after in Dunedin against New Zealand. He has gone on to take over 100 ODI wickets for Sri Lanka, the ninth to have achieved the milestone.
An aggressive lower order batsman, Zoysa once won an ODI game against Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
with an unbeaten 47. He was also bought by the Deccan Chargers
Deccan Chargers
Hyderabad Deccan Chargers known in short as DC or 'Chargers' is a cricket franchise that represents the city of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League...
Franchise in the IPL
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
but he was removed from the team for his poor performances.