Atapattu's pull-out disappoints Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene expressed disappointment that Marvan Atapattu had decided to opt out of the upcoming three-Test series against Bangladesh starting on June 25 at the SSC.

"I just got to know over the weekend about Marvan's opting out of the series. I am disappointed because it would have been great to have him around. The experience that he brings to the team would be immense," Jayawardene told a press gathering held to welcome the Bangladesh cricket team at Hotel Taj Samudra on Monday.

"Marvan's absence definitely opens doors for new players. Hopefully they will grab it. That's how I see it. We've already have a couple of young guys in the squad and we were thinking in the lines of giving them some exposure. I haven't still sat with the selectors and finalized what the outcome would be after the news we've heard from Marvan. All of us have to take responsibility and look forward to the series," said Jayawardene.

Atapattu announced over the weekend that he was unavailable for the Test series citing personal reasons.

When it was pointed out that two other experienced cricketers Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan would not be playing in the one-day series, Jayawardene stated: "We have to manage these players in the long term. Four years down the line we never know what will happen. We need to give opportunities to other cricketers to get the exposure and give them the experience."

"Those were the lines that we've been thinking when we selected the sides. Vaasy and Murali have been playing a lot of cricket especially in the counties. If we could give them a break in between it would be ideal because after September onwards we've got a lot of cricket ahead of us. We need to make sure we manage them properly," he said.

On the opposition they will be encountering Jayawardene said that Sri Lanka would not take anything lightly. "Bangladesh has made a lot of strides forward from the time they were last here. The more exposure you get in international cricket the players mature. We know how good Bangladesh are. We knew how good they were in the World Cup. They were in our group and we knew how dangerous they could be. We had to play a really good game to beat them in Trinidad," said Jayawardene.

"There are a lot of our guys who want to prove a point. Test cricket for us is all about pride. Personally, for me that's the ultimate challenge or for any cricketer. We are simply looking forward to this series. We haven't played in Sri Lanka for almost one year and we are keen to go out and play good cricket and have the fans behind us," he said.

Trevor Penney who has taken over the role as coach of the Sri Lanka team after the departure of Tom Moody said the strategy for the series would be very much the same as it has been in the last few years. Penney hoped that the new coach who would take charge of the team would not interfere with it too much.

"The two years Tom and I had dealt with the side we leave a bit of a legacy to go forward. I hope the new coach who comes in doesn't try and change too much of what we've done with the side. We have made them a real team unit who believe in themselves and playing for each other," said Penney who would also be leaving to join Moody in Western Australia at the end of the series.

Sri Lanka Cricket on Friday signed another Australian Trevor Bayliss as the new coach to succeed Moody. Bayliss is expected to officially take over the national team from the first week of September.

Mohammed Ashraful, Bangladesh's new captain, said his team were hopeful of putting up a better performance in the Test series than their last tour to Sri Lanka which former captain Habibul Bashar described as one of the worst.

Bangladesh on that occasion was routed 0-2 in the Tests and 0-3 in the one-day series. "We have been practicing hard and every day we are improving. One day cricket we have improved a lot but Test cricket we have some way to go. Our intention is to improve our Test cricket. We will play hard on this tour to achieve that," said Ashraful.

Bangladesh will play a full series of three Tests and three one-day internationals during their one month tour of Sri Lanka. They begin the tour with a three-day practice match at the Colts grounds on Wednesday.