At domestic level, he played for seven different teams in a career spanning from December 1995 to October 2009, though most of his matches came for the Colombo-based Sinhalese Sports Club.
Perera made his first-class debut in December 1995, aged 17, playing two matches for the Sinhalese Sports Club in the Saravanamuttu Trophy.
[10] In his innings, he recorded six boundaries (including one six) as he "eviscerated an England attack containing Darren Gough, Angus Fraser, and Dominic Cork".
[11] Later in the year, Perera represented Sri Lanka in the cricket competition at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, with the team losing the play-off for the bronze medal to New Zealand.
[8] Perera was restricted by stress fractures in his back for several seasons, but returned to international level in the 2001 Coca-Cola Cup, a triangular tournament featuring India and New Zealand.