Marvan Atapattu

Marvan Samson Atapattu is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, commentator and former professional cricketer. He played international cricket for the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1990 to 2007.
A top-order batsman, Atapattu's batting style was considered reliable and technically sound. His Test career began inauspiciously with five ducks in his first six innings, but he went on to appear in 90 Tests and score six double centuries, with a career Test batting average of 39. In One-Day Internationals, Atapattu played 268 matches and won the 1996 Cricket World Cup; he captained the Sri Lankan team that won the 2004 Asia Cup.
After retiring as a player, Atapattu became the batting coach of the Canada national cricket team, then the head coach of Singapore. He was appointed the batting coach of Sri Lanka in 2011, then promoted to head coach in April 2014, but resigned in September 2015.

Early life

Marvan Atapattu started his cricket career as a teenager at Mahinda College, Galle, where Major G. W. S. de Silva was his first cricket coach. Then he moved to Ananda College, Colombo, where he was subsequently coached by P. W. Perera.

International career

Making his Test debut in November 1990 just after his 20th birthday, Atapattu's first six innings yielded five ducks and a 1, and he was the first Sri Lankan batsman to be dismissed for a pair on debut. After this difficult start in his first three matches, he did not score above 29 in his next 11 innings, before hitting his first Test century in his 10th match, against India, seven years after his debut. He has 22 Test-match career ducks and four pairs, both records for a top-order batsman.
He made his One-Day International debut against India at Nagpur. He was appointed as captain of the one-day team in April 2003. He registered his highest Test score of 249 against Zimbabwe in 2004, sharing a 438-run partnership with Kumar Sangakkara for the second wicket. Atapattu scored a century in the first innings of the Second Test during his team's tour of Australia in 2004 in Cairns, Queensland. His third century in five innings, he made 133. A "determin" Atapattu, ESPNcricinfo wrote, "pull authoritatively... tuck in neatly behind the ball." He finished the two-match series scoring 156 runs at an average of 39.00 and was the top-scorer for his side.
Atapattu was a skilful fielder with an accurate throw. A report prepared by ESPNcricinfo in late 2005 showed that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the second highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the seventh-highest success rate. He was controversially left out of the squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, and as a result, asked for his removal from the list of Sri Lanka contracted players. Atapattu was to miss the 2007–08 tour of Australia, but was added to the squad after the intervention of Sri Lankan Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge. Atapattu played solidly in the First Test, but subsequently angrily labelled the selectors: "A set of muppets, basically, headed by a joker," at a post-stumps press conference.
After Sri Lanka lost the series 2–0, Atapattu announced his international retirement after the second Test at Hobart. He finished with 5,502 Test runs at an average of 39.02 in 90 Tests with a One-day International average of 37.57 after hitting 8,529 runs in 268 matches. Atapattu scored six double centuries and sixteen centuries in his Test cricket career. He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations.

International centuries

Atapattu scored his first test century in 1997, seven year after his debut, against India, and in that cricket match he made 108 runs as the match was played at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
His highest Test score of 249 came against Zimbabwe in 2004 at Bulawayo. His score of 127 in 2005 against New Zealand was his last Test century. As of August 2015, Atapattu is sixth in the list of most double hundreds scored in Test matches.
Atapattu scored his first ODI century in 1997 when he scored 118 in 2-run victory against India at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. At Lord's in 1998, Atapattu scored 132 not out against England, his highest score in this format of the game. He also scored two centuries in the 2003 Cricket World Cup: against Zimbabwe he scored 103 not out and against South Africa, only the 19th tied ODI in cricket history, he made 124. He was selected as man of the match on both occasions. His innings of 111 against Pakistan in 2004 was his last ODI century.

No.	Score	Opponent	Venue	Date	Ref
1	108		Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Chandigarh, India	19 November 1997
2	223		Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka	7 January 1998
3	216 not out		Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	18 November 1999
4	207 not out		Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka	28 June 2000
5	120		Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka	30 July 2000
6	201 not out		Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka	22 February 2001
7	108		Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka	29 August 2001
8	201		Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka	6 September 2001
9	100 not out		Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka	12 January 2002
10	185		Lord's, London, England	16 May 2002
11	118		Beausejour Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia	20 June 2003
12	118		Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka	24 March 2004
13	170		Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe	6 May 2004
14	249		Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	14 May 2004
15	113		Cazalys Stadium, Cairns, Australia	9 July 2004
16	127		McLean Park, Napier, New Zealand	4 April 2005

No.	Score	Opponent	Venue	Date	Ref
1	118		R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka	17 August 1997
2	132 not out		Lord's, London, England	20 August 1998
3	119 not out		National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan	13 February 2000
4	100		Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	7 July 2000
5	102 not out		Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	27 October 2000
6	101		R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka	16 September 2002
7	123 not out		Willowmoore Park, Benoni, South Africa	1 December 2002
8	101		Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia	9 January 2003
9	124		Kingsmead, Durban, South Africa	3 March 2003
10	103 not out		Buffalo Park, East London, South Africa	15 March 2003
11	111		Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan	14 October 2004

Coaching career

In 2009, Atapattu had a coaching stint with the Fingara Cricket Academy, a coaching facility in Sri Lanka. He had a short stint as Canada's batting coach in early 2009, subsequently helping them qualify for the 2011 World Cup. In 2010, he was named as head coach of the Singaporean cricket team for a one-year period, which was his first full-time assignment of a coach of a national side. His first task was World Cricket League Division 5 in Nepal where the team finished third in the group stage and remained in division 5 for 2012 World League.
In April 2011, after the World Cup, Atapattu was named as the batting coach of Sri Lankan national team and joined interim coach Stuart Law, Champaka Ramanayake and Ruwan Kalpage for the tour of England. Meanwhile, he was considered for the head coach job of the team, which eventually went to Paul Farbrace, in 2013. Atapattu was promoted to the post of an assistant coach. Following Farbrace's early unexpected exit in 2014, he was appointed as interim head coach of the team. During this period, Sri Lanka won its first Test series in England in 16 years, with a 1–0 win in its 2014 tour. He officially took over as head coach in September 2014, and was the team's first local coach in 15 years. A 5–2 ODI series win during England's 2014 tour of Sri Lanka was the only series win for Sri Lanka after he formally took over. After consecutive Test series defeats against India and Pakistan, he resigned in September 2015.