Mavan Atapattu was hired to help the Canadian team

Cricket Canada is pleased to announce today that Marvan Atapattu has been retained as a specialist batting consultant. Atapattu's appointment will be effective immediately and will run until the conclusion of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier April 1-18 in South Africa. Atapattu will report directly to head Coach Pubudu Dassanayake.

One of the great technical batsmen of his era, Atapattu particularly excelled in South Africa where he averaged a healthy 48.42 in ODI Cricket in 24 matches. This stellar record included 2 centuries against South Africa.

Cricket Canada coach Pubudu Dassanayake was instrumental in bringing his former teammate on board and commented "It's my pleasure to welcome an experienced batsman like Marvan as the Batting Coach for the Canadian cricket team. Marvan is one of the most technically correct batsmen that Sri Lanka has ever produced. He excelled on South Africa's bouncy pitches and had performed exceptionally under those conditions.

He will be a definite asset to our team in preparing for the upcoming World Cup qualifier. Marvan will share his knowledge and experience and have tremendous impact for our players. He is a role model that any upcoming international cricketer should follow. I am excited to work with him to achieve our goal."

The addition of Atapattu to the coaching teams is another move forward for Cricket Canada as they push towards the goal of qualifying for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.