Sri Lanka pick Atapattu as interim coach

Board appoints former spinner Ruwan Kalpage as assistant

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Cricket on Friday named former captain Marvan Atapattu as interim head coach, making him the island nation's seventh coach in the last four years.

Atapattu, 43, was appointed for the tour of England and Scotland starting next month and the subsequent home series against South Africa in July, the board said in a statement.

Former Test spinner Ruwan Kalpage will join Atapattu as assistant coach for the same period, the statement added.

Atapattu replaces Englishman Paul Farbrace, who quit earlier this week after just four months on the job to take over as England's deputy coach under Peter Moores.

Atapattu, a right-hand batsman, played 90 Tests, 268 one-dayers and two Twenty20 internationals in a career that spanned 17 years before he retired in 2007.

He scored 5,502 Test runs at an average of 39.02 with 16 centuries. His 8,529 one-day runs included 11 hundreds.

Atapattu will be the latest addition in a succession of coaches for Sri Lanka since 2010, following Trevor Bayliss, Stuart Law, Rumesh Ratnayake, Geoff Marsh, Graham Ford and Farbrace.

‘England post too good to turn down’

England's new assistant coach Farbrace admitted that it was impossible for him to turn down the English job as number two to new head coach Moores, even though he will have mixed feelings when he faces former employers Sri Lanka next month.

Farbrace had been in his previous post since December, during which time the Englishman had led the Sri Lankans to success in the Asia Cup and World Twenty20.

He also concedes the switch has come at an awkward time for all concerned but could not resist the lure of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

"It doesn't sound great, someone leaving a job after four months, and I understand from a Sri Lankan point of view that there is disappointment because it was a successful time," said Farbrace.

"I went back to explain to them on Monday that the opportunity to work with my own team is fantastic and to be able to work from home was an offer I couldn't really refuse.

"It will be interesting for me and the players that the series in a couple of weeks is against Sri Lanka and there will be some mixed feelings because I had built some good relationships.

"As a coach you do make strong relationships and they're not easy to put to one side when you're playing against them."