Atapattu fit for Darwin Test

Marvan Atapattu has expressed confidence about his fitness for the first Test against Australia after a sore back forced him out of Sri Lanka's only warm-up game before the Test series.

Atapattu had to undergo a course of eight pain-killing injections to overcome the sore back he developed while facing a bowling machine before the Australian tour. "Due to the bad weather back home we had to bat indoors using the bowling machine. It is not like when someone is bowling at you when you are practicing on the machine.

"The time between balls is so small that while you are batting you don't realise it. It was some time after practice that I started to feel some kind of stiffness in my back." Atapattu said that he had overlooked the fact that he could have asked the person who fed the balls into the machine to slow down the frequency between balls. "When you are batting you sometimes tend to forget little things like that. My back has improved a lot after treatment and I should be okay for the Test."

But while the pain had - for a while - threatened his participation, he said that the back pains were nothing new. "It was worse in 2002 when Alex Kountouri [the team's former physio] and someone called Shaun put me right with some treatment."

With Kumar Sangakkara striking brilliant form early in the tour with an unbeaten double-century against the Northern Territory Chief Minister's XI, and Romesh Kaluwitharana failing with the bat with scores of 17 and 12, Sri Lanka will probably fall back on Sangakkara for duties behind the wickets. "I would like to go into the Test with the best seven batsmen," said Atapattu. "Kalu's contributions with the bat could have been better."

Sangakkara's performance makes the No. 7 spot in the team a direct battle between Kaluwitharana and Russell Arnold, who made 29 and 34 on his return to the Test squad.

While the batting has fallen into place, Muttiah Muralitharan's withdrawal from the tour has left a gaping void in the bowling department. But Lasith Malinga's seven-wicket haul in the practice match has gone a long way in helping the management decide the bowling combination. In all likelihood, the attack will contain three fast bowlers and a spinner, and Malinga will make his debut. He is will partner Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa.

"Malinga is a strong contender and Upul [Chandana] turned the ball a lot," said Atapattu, hinting at what the team management's line of thinking on the final selection is going to be. Chandana took four wickets for 147 runs while Rangana Herath also picked up four, but conceded only 80 runs in the match.

"We will have to wait and see what type of wicket we will get for the Test. The pitch we played the practice game on was on the slow side, but I am told the one which is being prepared for the Test will be a bit quicker," said Atapattu. The venue has drop-in pitches which are prepared elsewhere and dropped into the slot for the Test.