Deshabandu Deshabandu ( si, දේශබන්දු, translit=dēśabandu; ta, தேசபந்து, translit=Tēcapantu, translation=Patriot) is the third highest national honour awarded in Sri Lanka. It is awarded "for meritorious service". The ti ...

Marvan Samson Atapattu (born 22 November 1970) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played for 17 years for Sri Lanka. Considered one of the most technically sound batsman in his era, Atapattu has scored six double centuries in Test cricket for Sri Lanka, irrespective of five ducks in his first six innings. He has previously coached the

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

national cricket teams. From April 2014 to September 2015, he was the head coach of Sri Lankan Cricket Team.

School days

Marvan Atapattu started his cricket career as a teenager at

Mahinda College Mahinda College is a Buddhist boys' school in Galle, Sri Lanka. The school was established on 1 March 1892 by the Buddhist Theosophical Society led by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott. As of May 2022 it is a national school providing primary and seco ...

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...

, where Major G. W. S. de Silva was his first cricket coach. Then he moved to Ananda College,

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

, 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 India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, seven years after his debut. He has 22 Test-match career ducks and four

pair Pair or PAIR or Pairing may refer to: Government and politics * Pair (parliamentary convention), matching of members unable to attend, so as not to change the voting margin * ''Pair'', a member of the Prussian House of Lords * ''Pair'', the Frenc ...

s (two ducks in a single Test), both records for a top-order batsman. He made his One-Day International debut against India at

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

. 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 Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...

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 Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

. His third century in five innings, he made 133. A "determin d Atapattu,

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wrote, "pull dauthoritatively ... tuck din neatly behind the ball." He finished the two-match series scoring 156 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

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 Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

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 Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

. 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.

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 The Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium is a cricket ground located in Mohali, Punjab. It is popularly referred to as the Mohali Stadium. The stadium was built by Geetanshu Kalra is home to the Punjab team. The construction of the stadium took aroun ...

in Mohali. His highest Test score of 249 came against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

in 2004 at

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

. His score of 127 in 2005 against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, 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 In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

on both occasions. His innings of 111 against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 2004 was his last ODI century.

Test centuries

ODI centuries

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

'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 The ICC World Cricket League (WCL) was a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status (i.e., teams of Associate status) administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate Members of ...

Division 5 in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

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 Champaka Priyadarshana Hewage Ramanayake (born January 8, 1965, in Galle), or Champaka Ramanayake, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played in 18 Tests and 62 ODIs from 1986 to 1995. Champaka is a highly experienced and respected intern ...

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 Paul Farbrace (born 7 July 1967) is the Head Coach of Sussex and a former professional cricketer. He is also a former assistant coach to the England cricket team. Farbrace, nicknamed "Farbie", was a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman who ...

, 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

and

, he resigned in September 2015.

Personal life

Atapattu is married to Neluni Atapattu, a Sri Lankan Chartered Accountant by profession. Marvan and Neluni have two daughters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atapattu, Marvan 1970 births Living people Alumni of Ananda College Basnahira South cricketers Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers Delhi Giants cricketers Alumni of Mahinda College Ruhuna cricketers Bangladesh Premier League coaches Sri Lankan cricket coaches Coaches of the Sri Lanka national cricket team Coaches of the Singapore national cricket team Deshabandu