Samat in The Sunday Leader, 5 October 2014
THE only thing questionable about Marvan Atapattu’s appointment as Head Coach last week was why it took so long in coming. As far back as end-June he had emerged a strong candidate, shepherding Sri Lanka to a historic Test series triumph in England, as well as a 3/2 victory in the ODI series, not to mention of the success in the solitary Twenty-20 – an astonishing sweep for one who was hustled into the job scarcely a month before the English tour, a consequent of the sudden resignation of his predecessor..
The home series against South Africa in July was lost, but both the Test and ODI series against Pakistan was won comprehensively, 2/0 and 2/1 respectively – and with the World Cup looming, commonsense called for the confirmation of Atapattu’s role as Head Coach in the first flush of the victorious Pakistan series in end-August. Continue reading