Tillakaratne Dilshan to play for Sussex

Sri Lankan Twenty20 specialist Tillakaratne Dilshan will play for Sussex this season, the English county announced on Wednesday.

Dilshan was player of the tournament at last year's World Twenty20 in England where his 317 runs at 52.38 helped power Sri Lanka to the Lord's final against eventual champions Pakistan.

He will join fellow overseas signings Yasir Arafat and Dwayne Smith, who helped Sussex win last season's Twenty20 Cup en route to the Champions League in India. Sussex's professional cricket manager Mark Robinson said, "The recruitment of overseas players is becoming more complex as the international fixture list grows, including the possibility of staging major matches at neutral venues such as the UAE and USA".

He further claimed that their 2010 squad can emulate 2009 T20 success.