Marvan lets down selectors, misses Aussie tour

CRICKET: Former captain Marvan Atapattu was left out from the Sri Lanka squad to tour Australia in November following his unprofessional approach towards the national selectors and Sri Lanka Cricket.

The 36 year old elegant right hander was set to meet Cricket Board officials and the national selectors at a special meeting at the SLC headquarters yesterday to decide his future career.

But chairman national selectors Ashantha de Mel said that Atapattu had badly let them down by informing the SLC that he is unable to turn up for the meeting at the eleventh hour.

De Mel said that they wanted to discuss matters regarding Atapattu’s availability for the tour down under as earlier he refused to play after being selected for the home Test series against Bangladesh.

Atapattu has scored 16 Test hundreds but has not featured in international level since February. Asantha de Mel said that Atapattu’s presence would have been important in the team especially with his technique and temperament to stay in.

But De Mel said that this time Atapattu has acted in an unkindly manner and his committee did not have any hesitation in replacing him with Sanath Jayasuriya in the Test squad to tour Australia.

Atapattu was sidelined by a back injury in 2006 leading to the appointment of Mahela Jayawardene as captain. Jayawardene quickly secured the position permanently by leading his team to a 5-0 one-day series triumph in England.

Atapattu made the last of his Test centuries against New Zealand in April 2005 and he last reached three figures in one-day internationals way back in October 2004.

C.D