Nuwan Zoysa

Demuni Nuwan Tharanga Zoysa (born 13 May 1978), or Nuwan Zoysa, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. He was a tall left-arm seam bowler, who played 30 Tests and 95 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for Sri Lanka. Nuwan was educated at Isipathana College, Colombo.^[1]

Nuwan Zoysa

Personal information
Full name	Demuni Nuwan Tharanga Zoysa
Born	(1978-05-13) 13 May 1978 (age 47) Colombo, Sri Lanka
Nickname	Zippy
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Left-arm fast-medium
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	Sri Lanka (1997–2007)
Test debut (cap 66)	7 March 1997 v New Zealand
Last Test	9 July 2004 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 88)	25 March 1997 v New Zealand
Last ODI	8 February 2007 v India
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1996/97-2010/11	Sinhalese Sports Club
2007/08	Deccan Chargers
2008/09-2009/10	Basnahira South
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 30 95 118 187 Runs scored 288 343 2,065 1,320 Batting average 8.47 13.19 9.07 16.29 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 1/5 0/3 Top score 28* 47* 114 53 Balls bowled 4,422 4,259 14,905 8,419 Wickets 64 108 301 242 Bowling average 33.70 29.75 23.77 25.22 5 wickets in innings 1 1 7 2 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0 Best bowling 5/20 5/26 7/58 6/14 Catches/stumpings 4/– 13/– 20/– 26/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 16 September 2015

In his eighth Test, Zoysa became the first player in history to take a hat-trick off his first three balls of a Test match.^[2] He achieved this against Zimbabwe at Harare in November 1999, dismissing Trevor Gripper, Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson.^[3]

International career

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 took over 100 ODI wickets for Sri Lanka, becoming the eighth to have achieved the milestone in the 2004 Champions Trophy.^[4]

An aggressive lower order batsman, Zoysa once won an ODI against Australia with an unbeaten 47, his highest ODI score. Zoysa's peak in international cricket came during the 2004 season when he took his best Test and ODI figures and only five-wicket hauls.^[5] In May, he took 5 for 20 against Zimbabwe in the first Test at Harare and in August he claimed 5 for 26 in a ODI against South Africa in Colombo.^[6][7]

Domestic career

He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Sinhalese Sports Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament.^[8] He was also bought by the Deccan Chargers Franchise in the IPL but he was removed from the team for his poor performances.

Coaching

Nuwan Zoysa was appointed to the National Fast Bowling Coaching Department of Sri Lanka Cricket on 1 October 2015 prior to which he has worked in India with Goa Cricket Association and with Royal College & Nondiscripts as Fast Bowling Coach before joining SLC.^[9]

In October 2018, he was charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for three breaches of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.^[10] In November 2020, he was found guilty of three offences,^[11] and in April 2021, he was handed a six-year ban,^[12] backdated to 31 October 2018.^[13]