25 September,2014 08:30 AM IST | | PTI
Former Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu has been named the chief coach of the national cricket team. The executive committee meeting held today decided to appoint him (Atapattu), Mohan de Silva, the SLC Vice President said
Marvan Atapattu
Colombo: Former Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu has been named the chief coach of the national cricket team. "The executive committee meeting held today decided to appoint him (Atapattu)," Mohan de Silva, the SLC Vice President said.
Marvan Atapattu
De Silva said that Atapattu has been appointed for a period of two years. The 43-year-old played 90 Tests scoring over 5502 runs with six double hundreds before his retirement in 2007.
In 2012, he became the batting coach. He was appointed the assistant coach in 2012 and succeeded the English coach Paul Farbrace this year. Atapattu took over the acting role when Farbrace suddenly left the Sri Lankan job.
He tasted immediate success in the interim role when Sri Lanka beat England in England and won the home series against Pakistan. It's been 15 years since Roy Dias' tenure ending in 1999 that Sri Lanka Cricket has appointed one of their local stars as the coach of the senior team.
Between 1999 and 2014, it has been a string of foreign coaches with notable among them being Australia's Tom Moody and Farbrace. Under Moody, Lankans reached the final of the 2011 World Cup while Farbrace guided them to World T20 triumph in Bangladesh, this year.
