Introduction
Deshabandu Marvan Samson Atapattu (born 22 November 1970 in Kalutara) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former Sri Lankan captain. He has coached Canada and Singapore national cricket teams previously. From April 2014 to September 2015, he was the Head Coach of Sri Lankan Cricket Team.
Style and career
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 crossed over to Ananda College, Colombo, where he was subsequently coached by P. W. Perera. Making his Test debut in November 1990 just after his 20th birthday, his first six innings yielded five ducks and a 1, but supporters insist that his debut-innings duck puts him in good company with batsmen such as Mike Atherton, Graham Gooch, Len Hutton, Saeed Anwar and Wasim Akram, who all made debut-innings ducks and went on to score at least 2500 Test runs. 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 4 pairs (two ducks in a single match), 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 on 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 is a skilful fielder with an accurate throw. A report prepared by Cricinfo 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 controversiallyleft 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.
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 Pakistan and India, he resigned in September 2015.
Player statistics
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| * | Remained not out |
 | Atapattu was man of the match |
| Balls | Balls faced |
| Pos. | Position in the batting order |
| Inn. | The innings of the match |
| Test | The number of the Test match played in that series |
| S/R | Strike rate during the innings |
| H/A/N | Venue was at home (Sri Lanka), away or neutral |
| Date | Date the match was held, or the starting date of match for Test matches |
| Lost | The match was lost by Sri Lanka |
| Won | The match was won by Sri Lanka |
| Drawn | The match was drawn |
| Tied | The match was tied |
Test cricket centuries
| No. | Score | Against | Pos. | Inn. | Test | Venue | H/A/N | Date | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 108 |  India | 2 | 1 | 1/3 | Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali, India | Away | 19 November 1997 | Drawn | |
| 2 | 223 |  Zimbabwe | 2 | 1 | 1/2 | Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka | Home | 1 July 1998 | Won | |
| 3 | 216* | Zimbabwe | 1 | 2 | 1/3 | Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe | Away | 18 November 1999 | Drawn | |
| 4 | 207* |  Pakistan | 1 | 1 | 3/3 | Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka | Home | 28 June 2000 | Drawn | |
| 5 | 120 |  South Africa | 1 | 2 | 2/3 | Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka | Home | 30 July 2000 | Lost | |
| 6 | 201* |  England | 1 | 1 | 1/3 | Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka | Home | 22 February 2001 | Won | |
| 7 | 108 | India | 1 | 2 | 3/3 | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka | Home | 29 August 2001 | Won | |
| 8 | 201 |  Bangladesh | 1 | 2 | 1/1 | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka | Home | 6 September 2001 | Won | |
| 9 | 100* | Zimbabwe | 1 | 3 | 3/3 | Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka | Home | 12 January 2002 | Won | |
| 10 | 185 | England | 1 | 1 | 1/3 | Lord's, London, England | Away | 16 May 2002 | Drawn | |
| 11 | 118 |  West Indies | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia | Away | 20 June 2003 | Drawn | |
| 12 | 118 |  Australia | 1 | 2 | 3/3 | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka | Home | 24 March 2005 | Lost | |
| 13 | 170 | Zimbabwe | 1 | 2 | 1/2 | Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe | Away | 6 May 2004 | Won | |
| 14 | 249 | Zimbabwe | 2 | 1 | 2/2 | Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe | Away | 14 May 2004 | Won | |
| 15 | 133 | Australia | 2 | 1 | 2/2 | Bundaberg Rum Stadium, Cairns, Australia | Away | 9 July 2004 | Drawn | |
| 16 | 127 |  New Zealand | 2 | 1 | 1/2 | McLean Park, Napier, New Zealand | Away | 4 April 2005 | Drawn |
One Day International centuries
| No. | Score | Balls | Against | Pos. | Inn. | S/R | Venue | Date | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 118 | 153 | India | 2 | 1 | 77.12 | R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka | 17 August 1997 | Won | |
| 2 | 132* | 151 | England | 3 | 2 | 87.41 | Lord's, London | 20 August 1998 | Won | |
| 3 | 119* | 135 | Pakistan | 3 | 1 | 88.14 | National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan | 13 February 2000 | Won | |
| 4 | 100 | 124 | Pakistan | 4 | 2 | 80.64 | Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh | 7 June 2000 | Lost | |
| 5 | 102* | 111 | India | 3 | 1 | 91.89 | Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | 27 October 2000 | Won | |
| 6 | 101 | 118 |  Netherlands | 2 | 1 | 85.59 | R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka | 16 September 2002 | Won | |
| 7 | 123* | 121 | South Africa | 1 | 2 | 101.65 | Willowmoore Park, Benoni, South Africa | 1 December 2002 | Won | |
| 8 | 101 | 124 | Australia | 1 | 1 | 81.445 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia | 9 January 2003 | Won | |
| 9 | 124 | 129 | South Africa | 1 | 1 | 96.12 | Kingsmead, Durban, South Africa | 3 March 2003 | Tied | |
| 10 | 103* | 127 | Zimbabwe | 1 | 1 | 81.10 | Buffalo Park, East London, South Africa | 15 March 2003 | Won | |
| 11 | 111 | 114 | Pakistan | 3 | 1 | 97.36 | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan | 14 October 2004 | Lost |
Personal life
Atapattu was educated at Mahinda College, Galle and Ananda College, Colombo. He is married to Neluni Atapattu, an accountant by profession. Marvan and Neluni have two daughters.