A pain in the back for Marvan
BY SA'ADI Thawfeeq
SRI LANKA cricket captain Marvan Atapattu was due to leave abroad
yesterday for medical treatment for a troublesome back injury which has
plagued his 15-year international career.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sources said that the injury recurred during
a training session where the national team is preparing to receive the
West Indies in a two-Test series followed by a one-day triangular with
West Indies and India starting in July.
"Atapattu has been suffering from unbearable pain from a back injury
and has been forced to seek medical treatment abroad," said SLC CEO
Duleep Mendis yesterday.
Mendis said that the Sri Lankan captain's progress would be closely
monitored by SLC.
Last year shortly before the national team left on the tour to
Australia, Atapattu complained of a back injury as a result of
practicing indoors on the bowling machine due to bad weather.
"The time between balls is so small that while you are batting you
don't realise it. It was some time after practice that I started to feel
some kind of stiffness in my back," Atapattu said on that occasion.
"When you are batting you sometimes tend to forget little things like
that."
He also claimed that the back pains were an ailment that he has had
to deal with for most of his career. "It was worse in 2002 when Alex
Kountouri (the team's former physio) and someone called Shaun put me
right with some treatment."
The 34-year-old veteran of 81 Tests and 225 one-day internationals
recently criticised the heavy schedule his country will face in the next
12 months. He said that it would be hard on his players and not do any
good to their fitness going through such a weighty program.
Sri Lanka are due to play 15 Tests and 42 one-day internationals
within this period. |