Colombo, Apr 19: Former captain Marvan Atapattu will be Sri Lanka's batting coach on the upcoming tour of England.
The appointment on Tuesday signaled public forgiveness from Sri Lanka Cricket for Atapattu, who retired in 2007 following a spat with the national selectors and dropped most links with the governing body.
In a controversial farewell press conference, he referred to the selectors as "muppets headed by a joker."
After retiring, Atapattu played in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League, which was regarded as a rebel league by the Indian cricket authorities and International Cricket Council.
The 40-year-old Atapattu played 90 tests and 268 one-day internationals in a 17-year international career.
The opening batsman scored 5,502 test runs including 16 centuries, six of them double hundreds, and 8,529 ODI runs including 11 centuries.
Choosing Atapattu continued the major overhaul of Sri Lanka cricket following the World Cup, where the team reached the final this month.
Former Australia batsman Stuart Law is the new coach, Tillakaratne Dilshan the new captain, and former skipper Duleep Mendis heads a new selection committee.
The tour of England starting next month involves three tests, five one-dayers and two Twenty20s. AP
