Atapattu set to add muscle

May bat in the middle at mini World Cup:

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Sri Lanka's opening batsman Marvan Atapattu is all geared up to strengthen the Sri Lankan batting when the International Cricket Council Champions trophy Mini World Cup gets under way in India on October 7.

The Sri Lankan team led by Mahela Jayawardena will leave for India on Saturday and will take on Bangladesh in their qualifying round opening fixture at Mohali. Atapattu, 35, pulled out of the England tour due to a recurring back injury for which he underwent surgery in Australia recently.

Although he was declared fit he could not make his presence felt at the recent Tri Series tournament featuring India, South Africa and Sri Lanka was postponed due to bad weather. This time of course the stylish right hander is determined to make an impact after being in the sidelines for nearly six months.

Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody and skipper Mahela Jayawardena both welcomed the return of Marvan Atapattu who is one of their key players in their campaign for the ICC Champions trophy which will be followed by a tour to New Zealand and the important ICC World Cup in the Caribbean.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardena expressed his satisfaction at the return of Atapattu who is currently shaping up well at the nets under the watchful eyes of coach Tom Moody, assistant coach Trevor Penny, physio Tomy Simsek and trainer C. J. Clark.

Jayawardena said that the presence of Atapattu is certain to make their task much easier with a lot of experience coming into the line up. We are pretty happy with the set up. There are a lot of options here because Marvan can bat anywhere in the line up which is an added advantage.

However skipper Jayawardena said that the team have not yet decided whether Atapattu would open the batting or occupy the middle order and they would make a final decision once they get to India.

The Sri Lankan team are set to play a warm-up match at Mohali before their qualifying round opening fixture against Bangladesh on October 7.

Meanwhile Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody said that his team is certain to benefit a lot with the re entry of Marvan Atapattu who in fact made his test and one day international debut in India in 1990. Moody said that at this stage they are looking for Marvan to fill a position in the middle order.

"We don't want to disturb the opening combination of Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga because they have been successful in the power plays, and that is developing very well". "Marvan, with his class and experience coming in the middle order is only going to benefit the team in the long run", added the former Australian spinner.

Moody said that Atapattu is a player who could bat anywhere in the top order and that this tournament will be a great chance for him to make a lot of runs on the slow Indian wickets.

In fact Sri Lanka will play three additional qualifying round matches before the real tournament begins on October 15.

Sri Lanka's second qualifying round match will be against Zimbabwe on October 10 at Ahmedabad and they will complete their qualifying round stage with a game against the West Indies on October 14 in Mumbai.

The two top teams from the qualifying round will be selected to compete in the ICC Champions trophy with matches to be worked off at four different venues; Mohali, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Mumbai. The final is scheduled for November 5 in Mumbai.