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Marvan moody over Moody selection!
By Marlon Fernandopulle
It appears as if the appointment of Sri Lanka's cricket coach Tom Moody has not gone down too well with captain Marvan Atapattu. At a press conference to announce Moody's appointment on Thursday morning it was revealed that arrangements were being made for the Australian to meet the Sri Lanka cricket captain before he leaves the island on that day despite a very tight schedule.

However, when The Sunday Times contacted Atapattu yesterday the Lankan skipper said that he did not have any meeting with the new coach. "An Interim committee member told me that they would call me and let me meet up with Moody before he leaves the island on Thursday. But I never received that telephone call", adding in a lighter vein the skipper said that he is still waiting for that call to meet up with the new coach.

When asked how he got to know about Moody's appointment Atapattu replied saying," I was told by the CEO and also got to know about it from the media". He declined to make any comment on Moody's appointment saying he needs a little more time.

Meanwhile an Interim Committee spokesman refuted Atapattu's claims and confirmed to the Sunday Times that Marvan was called up to meet up with Moody on Wednesday evening but had excused himself as he had a family commitment on that day. He further stated that a meeting with Marvan and Moody on the following day (Thursday) was also not possible as the Lankan skipper was involved in a practice game on that day.

After weeks of speculation Sri Lanka Crickets IC appointed 39-year-old Tom Moody as the national coach until the 2007 world cup. The six foot six inch Australian all rounder will officially take charge of proceedings from the 18th of June when he begins preparations for three test tour against the West Indies and a triangular tournament that will also feature India.

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