Tillakaratne falls on his bat (sword)

[Donny]

Sri Lankan skipper quits

From correspondents in Colombo - Fox


HASHAN Tillakaratne today stepped down as Sri Lanka's cricket captain after the hosts suffered their first whitewash in a home Test series here.

Sri Lanka lost the three-Test series with Australia 3-0 following their 121-run defeat in the third and final match.

"I am stepping down as captain. It is high time someone else took over," said Tillakaratne, 36.

He was under pressure to retain the captaincy after his team's defeat in the first two matches at Galle and Kandy.

"I don't want to block somebody's chances to lead Sri Lanka. I have had ups and downs as captain and I enjoyed my stint," said Tillakaratne, who led his team to just one win in 10 Tests.

"I want to concentrate on my batting. I will be available as a batsman," he said.

He said his team had chances to perform better against Australia, but just could not finish it properly.

"I think we pushed Australia in the series," he said.

"But they always fought back. They played very competitive cricket in the series and we learnt a lot of lessons from them. We wanted to win this match at least, but missed a lot of chances."

Tillakaratne said his team still gained a lot playing against the best side in the world.

"There were centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan, Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya. As usual, Muralitharan bowled very well but he did not have support. Our batting was a big concern in this match," he said.

Ponting said his team had set sights on winning the third Test and sweeping the series.

"It (Sri Lanka's first whitewash at home) has happened for the first time here. It means a lot for us. It says a lot about how we have been improving in these conditions over the past few years.

"At certain stages today, it looked like we were not quite getting there but we did. It's a huge result for everyone concerned."

Shane Warne said he was happy with his performance in the series in which he bagged 26 wickets to take his tally to 517, three short of breaking retired West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh's world record of 519.

[commonwombat]

The Sri Lankan captaincy seems to be the job no sensible person wants. More flick-passing in this job than a rugby halfbacks convention.

[Donny]

I think you'll find England has probably had more captains since 1989 than Sri Lanka, wombat.

Arjuna Ranatunga captained from '89 for 10 years (56 Tests) then Sanath Jayasuriya lead them for 4 years (38 Tests) and Hashan Tillakaratne has captained since then (10 Tests).

[Donny]

Atapattu new Sri Lanka skipper

From correspondents in Colombo - Fox


SRI LANKA today named Marvan Atapattu to replace Hashan Tillakaratne as Test captain.

Tillakaratne stepped down after Sri Lanka lost the three-Test series 3-0 to Australia on Sunday.

Atapattu is Sri Lanka's one-day skipper.