Cricket: County sign Sri Lanka star Mahela Jayawardene for 12 T20 matches

 SOMERSET have stated their intention to again become a major T20 force – by signing Mahela Jayawardene for the majority of their Natwest Blast campaign.

The former Sri Lanka captain – the leading run-scorer in ICC World T20 history – will be available for 12 of Somerset's 14 group matches.

The 38-year-old joins an illustrious list of overseas stars "When a player of his experience and class becomes available, you have to snap them up.

"He is an experienced international captain and the squad will certainly benefit from having him around the dressing room.
"He is a true professional and will have a major influence both on and off the field for us during the NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

"To have the top two run-scorers in the history of the ICC World T20 walking out in to the middle at Taunton is something that I hope the members and supporters will be looking forward to."

With Somerset already having signed Roelof van der Merwe and Yasir Arafat for the season, Jaywardene is the latest top-class operator to come on board.

He has played in 149 Tests, scoring nearly 12,000 runs at an average of 49.84 with a highest score of 374. He has enjoyed enormous success in white-ball cricket, featuring in 448 ODIs, scoring more than 12,000 runs with a best of 144. He has also represented his country in 55 T20Is, scoring 1493 runs with a top score of 100.

If Somerset's limited-overs cricket has lacked one key ingredient in recent years, it has been an ability to play spin – and Jayawardene is a world-class performer in that regard.
He said: "Somerset is a really good club with a long history and I hope that I can help bring success to the county. The club has a tradition of successful overseas players – and I will be doing my best to join that illustrious list."

After reaching four finals days in succession between 2009 and 2012, Somerset have not managed to get out of the group stage in the domestic T20 competition in the past two summers.

But the recruitment of Jayawardene and Gayle – who will play six matches – in addition to Van der Merwe and Arafat, suggests they are serious about this year's competition.

Jayawardene, who has been working as a consultant to the England side, has played T20 cricket all over the world – including eight games for Sussex last summer. He scored 36 in their five-run win over Somerset at Taunton last May.

On Twitter, he said he had "heard a lt of good things" about the club from former Somerset star Jos Buttler. who have represented the club – and is set to feature alongside West Indian superstar Chris Gayle at the County Ground this summer.

Somerset director of cricket Matt Maynard said: "Mahela is a batsman of undoubted class, who scores his runs all around the wicket.