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Atapattu upbeat ahead of New Zealand tour

Marvan Atapattu was upbeat ahead of Sri Lanka's one-day series against New Zealand and predicted a hard-fought series, which begins later this month

Cricinfo staff
16-Dec-2004


Marvan Atapattu: 'The most important thing is that we are together as a team and playing for each other' © Getty Images
Marvan Atapattu was upbeat ahead of Sri Lanka's one-day series against New Zealand and predicted a hard-fought series beginning later this month. Sri Lanka's one-day squad departed for New Zealand on Thursday morning and are scheduled to play five ODIs and two Tests on their month-long tour.
Atapattu hoped that his team would build upon a successful 18 months under his captaincy and move towards becoming the world's best one-day side by 2007. "We want to be the No. 1 team in the world," said Atapattu after the team's final training session earlier in the week. "But we'll have to work really hard towards that objective. We cannot do that overnight but we can during a set period and the aim is to be there by the 2007 World Cup."
Sri Lanka have steadily risen up the ICC's ODI Championship under Atapattu, who now has a 71% win ratio, having won 25 of 35 matches played since he took over after the 2003 World Cup. Australia topped the table with 136 points and Sri Lanka were in second place with 119. New Zealand, though, were just one point behind.
"Rankings do matter at the end of the day, but at the moment it is a day-by-day process," Atapattu insisted. "I just try to win each game with the 11 that have been selected. But the result is not as important as the way we play and I'm generally very happy with the way things are going. If you do well the rankings will take care of themselves.
"The most important thing is that we are together as a team and playing for each other. Someone may miss a game or a series but when they come back they must be playing for the team. So far the boys are doing just that and that has been a key reason for our success."
Sri Lanka dominated their last one-day series in New Zealand in 2001, and triumphed 4-1, but Atapattu expected a tougher fight this time, especially after New Zealand boosted their confidence with a 1-1 draw against Australia in the recently concluded Chapell-Hadlee Trophy. "They are a tough team in their own conditions and although they don't have a lot of stars they have been playing very competitively as a group," said Atapattu. "They also have the advantage of playing at home.
"Fortunately we have four days of training before our first practice match and then two practice games before the one-day series. This gives us plenty of time to adjust to the climatic conditions and the pitches. We'll try and figure out our strategies within the first week."
Sri Lanka will miss Muttiah Muralitharan for the one-day series, although there is an outside chance that he might be ready for the final ODI in Wellington on January 8. He claimed to be feeling much better this week and has increased his workload.
"I am pretty confident that he [Murali] will be available for the Test series," said Atapattu. "He says he is getting better day by day and bowled four overs at normal speed on Tuesday. The cricket board is arranging for him to participate in a practice game [to be played on December 27] and when he is ready he can hopefully join is in New Zealand."
The team also departed without their coach, John Dyson, who missed the last few days of training due to a personal matter in Australia. Dyson will be joining the team straight from Australia later in the week. The first match will be played on December 26.