Provided final paperwork and travel goes ahead as planned, Sri Lanka batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan will arrive in Derby in time to line-up alongside South Africa Test Captain Hashim Amla in the county’s opening home NatWest T20 Blast fixture on Friday.
Dilshan, who has featured in 232 career Twenty20 matches hitting over 5,000 runs, is scheduled to arrive in UK today and will be available to make his debut for Derbyshire earlier than planned after Nathan Rimmington was ruled out for this Friday’s fixture through injury.
The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 winner, who has a top score of 104 not out off 57 balls coming against Australia in 2011, is now able to take his place in front of the Sky Sports cameras alongside Amla, who will be making his final appearance for the county this summer.
Supporters would be in for a batting feast with the international pair boasting a combined tally of over 10,000 limited overs runs and over 500 fixtures to their names.
Elite Performance Director, Graeme Welch said: “With the injury to Nathan Rimmington, we’ve been able to shuffle our overseas options and we’re delighted to welcome Dilshan earlier than planned.
“This would be the only opportunity to see Dilshan and Hashim bat together in the same team and there promises to be some explosive batting on display on Friday.”
