Jayawardene joins Gayle at Somerset

London - Ambitious English county Somerset snapped up formidable Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardede on Thursday to partner explosive West Indian opener Chris Gayle for the domestic Twenty20 season.

Jayawardene, the 38-year-old former test skipper, has scored 1 493 runs in 55 Twenty20 internationals and will feature in 12 of 14 domestic matches for the English county.

"To have the top two run-scorers in the history of the World T20 walking out into the middle at Taunton is something that I hope the members and supporters will be looking forward to," Somerset director of cricket Matt Maynard said in a statement.

Gayle, 36, who will play in the World Twenty20 semifinal against India later on Thursday, said in January, he would return for six Somerset matches this year after scoring 328 runs in three appearances for them last term.

Somerset failed to make the knockout stages of last year's NatWest T20 Blast, which was won by Lancashire Lightning.