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Atapattu ruled out of England Tests
Tuesday, 18 April 2006 - 3:16 AM SL Time
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Sri Lan`ka suffered a massive setback ahead of their tour of England when captain Marvan Atapattu was ruled out of the three Test series with a recurring a back injury. The withdrawal of Atapattu is a further setback for the tourists after experienced opener Sanath Jayasuriya announced his retirement from Test cricket following the Test series against Pakistan.
The absence of the two senior batsmen creates a huge vacuum in Sri Lanka`s top order leaving the inexperienced Upul Tharanga (21) and Jehan Mubarak (25), who have never played a Test Match in England, to open the innings. Mubarak was named in the squad as stand by for Atapattu.
Tharanga and Mubarak have never opened in a Test Match for Sri Lanka and in total have played in only 12 Tests compared to Jayasuriya and Atapattu who have 190 Tests put together.
`When Marvan sat out of the Pakistan series we expected him to recover in time and be available for the tougher challenge in England, but he has failed to recover and it`s a severe blow for us. He was our best batsman in England four years ago in the Test series and with him out we will find it extremely difficult to fill that slot,` Lalith Kaluperuma, Sri Lanka`s chairman of selectors said.
In 2002, when Sri Lanka toured England last, Atapattu was a vital member in the Sri Lankan side and scored a marathon 185 in the first Test at Lord`s and put the tourists in a winning position before England fought back after being asked to follow on.
Atapattu has been battling with the back injury and missed the recent home series against Pakistan and now will have to travel to Melbourne for surgery to prolong his career.
`Marvan`s problem was that the disc bone on his back was touching a nerve causing severe pain and we were hoping that it would heal naturally with rest, but a scan a few days back revealed that there`s no improvement and the next available option for us is to send him for surgery,` Tommy Simsek, the team`s physiotherapist said.
According to Simsek, Atapattu will require six to 12 weeks to recover fully after surgery and he has a slight chance of playing the five-match ODI series that follows the Tests.
Mahela Jayawardene will get the opportunity to lead the side in the absence of Atapattu while Kumar Sangakkara has been named as the vice-captain.
Sri Lanka will leave to England on Thursday and the tour begins with a three-day warm up game against British Universities at Cambridge from April 24.
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tamilcanuck
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4643
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18 Apr 2006 12:56:10 GMT Report for Abuse
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| A good chance for Mahela & sangakkara to prove themselves. maybe a fresh start would be good. |
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