Marvan Atapattu, who announced his retirement from international cricket after a marvellous on Tuesday, is likely to link with Sydney grade club St George next month.
Reports say that the former Sri Lanka captain, who last week described Sri Lanka's selection panel as "Muppets" led by a joker, had been negotiating with the Sydney club and Channel Nine throughout the Hobart Test. He is expected to relocate with his family to Sydney before Christmas, and then get on the Channel Nine commentary team for the triangular one-day series involving Australia, Sri Lanka and India.
Atapattu, who scored a defiant 80 as Sri Lanka chased an improbable 507 runs to beat Australia in the second Test, had kept his place in the team for the Hobart match despite his outburst during the teams innings and 40-run defeat to Australia in the first Test last week, when he said, "Sri Lankan cricket, I think at this moment in time, is not going the way, the direction, it should be going. Especially with the Muppets, basically, headed by a joker."
He scored 51, 16, 25 and 80 in the just-concluded two-Test series against Australia.
The right-hand batsman, who will turn 37 on Thursday, had a difficult initiation in Test cricket, scoring only one run in his first six innings, starting in November 1990, but finished with 5,502 runs at 39.02 in 90 Tests, including six double-centuries.
He also played 268 one-day internationals for Sri Lanka but his greatest performances were in Tests.
Despite being hampered by a back problem, which forced him to miss of many matches and eventually relinquish the captaincy to Mahela Jayawardene, he converted six of his 16 Test hundreds into double-centuries, a feat bettered only by Don Bradman (12), Wally Hammond and Brian Lara (seven each).
A summary of the batsman's career:
- Made his Test debut against India at Chandigarh in November 1990 just after his 20th birthday and bagged a pair (duck in both innings).
- Had to wait for almost two years for another opportunity but managed the scores of 0 & 1 only (v Australia at Colombo SSC in August 1992).
- Got yet another pair in his third Test (v India at Ahmedabad in February 1994)-
- Did not score above 29 in his next 11 innings, before hitting his first Test century in his 10th match also against India at Mohali in November 1997- 7 years after his debut.
- Got a pair on two more occasions in his Test career and a total of 22 ducks - both are records for a top-order batsman.
- Has scored six double-hundreds in his career, including a highest of 249 (v Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in May 2004). Only three batsmen have made more Test double centuries: Wally Hammond (7),Brian Lara (8) and Don Bradman (12).
- Has batted at all positions excepting no.8 & 11 in Tests and number 10 & 11 in ODIs.
Atapattu in Test cricket
Performance against various opponents
|
Opponent |
Mts |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
Hs |
Avg |
100 |
50 |
0 |
|
Australia |
11 |
21 |
1 |
625 |
133 |
31.25 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
Bangladesh |
4 |
4 |
0 |
250 |
201 |
62.50 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
England |
10 |
17 |
3 |
603 |
201* |
43.07 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
India |
14 |
22 |
1 |
791 |
108 |
37.66 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
New Zealand |
8 |
13 |
2 |
298 |
127 |
27.09 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
Pakistan |
13 |
25 |
2 |
728 |
207* |
31.65 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
South Africa |
12 |
23 |
0 |
601 |
120 |
26.13 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
|
West Indies |
8 |
16 |
3 |
461 |
118 |
35.46 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
Zimbabwe |
10 |
15 |
3 |
1145 |
249 |
95.41 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
|
TOTAL |
90 |
156 |
15 |
5502 |
249 |
39.02 |
16 |
17 |
22 |
Performance at home & away
|
|
Mts |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
Hs |
Avg |
100 |
50 |
0 |
|
at Home |
48 |
78 |
9 |
2671 |
223 |
38.71 |
8 |
7 |
11 |
|
Away |
41 |
76 |
6 |
2773 |
249 |
39.61 |
8 |
10 |
11 |
|
at Neutral places |
1 |
2 |
0 |
58 |
36 |
29.00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Performance at various positions
|
|
Mts |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
Hs |
Avg |
100 |
50 |
0 |
|
1st position |
57 |
96 |
9 |
3958 |
249 |
45.49 |
14 |
12 |
13 |
|
2nd position |
25 |
40 |
4 |
1359 |
223 |
37.75 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
|
3rd position |
4 |
7 |
0 |
82 |
25 |
11.71 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
4th position |
2 |
3 |
1 |
65 |
36 |
32.50 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
5th position |
2 |
2 |
0 |
29 |
22 |
14.50 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
6th position |
3 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.20 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
7th position |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
9th position |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2* |
- |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
10th position |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
6.00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Atapattu in One-day internationals
Performance against each opponent:
|
Opponent |
Mts |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
Hs |
Avg |
SR |
100 |
50 |
0 |
|
Australia |
27 |
27 |
1 |
712 |
101 |
27.38 |
63.34 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
|
Bangladesh |
10 |
9 |
4 |
452 |
83 |
90.40 |
82.63 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
|
Canada |
1 |
1 |
1 |
24 |
24* |
- |
171.42 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
England |
20 |
19 |
2 |
520 |
132* |
30.58 |
61.53 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
India |
52 |
52 |
5 |
1570 |
118 |
33.40 |
69.13 |
2 |
11 |
3 |
|
Kenya |
3 |
3 |
0 |
94 |
52 |
31.33 |
70.14 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
Netherlands |
1 |
1 |
0 |
101 |
101 |
101.00 |
85.59 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
New Zealand |
30 |
29 |
5 |
908 |
83* |
37.83 |
67.40 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
|
Pakistan |
48 |
47 |
4 |
1766 |
119* |
41.06 |
67.48 |
3 |
12 |
4 |
|
South Africa |
34 |
34 |
4 |
1164 |
124 |
38.80 |
70.84 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
|
West Indies |
14 |
12 |
1 |
312 |
82* |
28.36 |
59.09 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
Zimbabwe |
28 |
25 |
5 |
906 |
103* |
45.30 |
64.43 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
|
TOTAL |
268 |
259 |
32 |
8529 |
132* |
37.57 |
67.72 |
11 |
59 |
13 |
Performance at home & away
|
|
Mts |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
Hs |
Avg |
SR |
100 |
50 |
0 |
|
at Home |
75 |
71 |
11 |
2559 |
118 |
42.65 |
65.44 |
2 |
21 |
1 |
|
Away |
94 |
92 |
13 |
3055 |
132* |
38.67 |
71.49 |
6 |
17 |
3 |
|
at Neutral places |
99 |
96 |
8 |
2915 |
103* |
33.12 |
66.08 |
3 |
21 |
9 |
Performance at various positions
|
|
Mts |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
Hs |
Avg |
SR |
100 |
50 |
0 |
|
1st position |
42 |
42 |
5 |
1310 |
124 |
35.40 |
68.58 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
|
2nd position |
50 |
50 |
4 |
1818 |
118 |
39.52 |
67.18 |
2 |
13 |
1 |
|
3rd position |
120 |
120 |
12 |
4142 |
132* |
38.35 |
66.33 |
4 |
33 |
6 |
|
4th position |
9 |
9 |
1 |
328 |
100 |
41.00 |
72.56 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
5th position |
27 |
27 |
6 |
857 |
87 |
40.80 |
74.45 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
|
6th position |
2 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
6* |
10.00 |
90.90 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
7th position |
7 |
7 |
1 |
37 |
12 |
6.16 |
50.00 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
8th position |
1 |
1 |
1 |
19 |
19* |
- |
45.23 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
9th position |
1 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
8* |
- |
200.00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
- Compiled by Rajneesh Gupta