Atapattu says winning WC is 'morale high' Lanka's focus

Sri Lanka cricket team's new coach Marvan Atapattu has revealed that the World Cup is their focus, as he targeted more success for the reigning Twenty20 champions in next year's 50-over tournament.

Atapattu revealed that there was no danger of complacency among his players and even star batsman Kumar Sangakkara recognised there was room for improvement ahead of the tournament in New Zealand and Australia.

Atapattu said that it is the World Cup that is their focus, adding that their morale is high. He said that they have had a good run in the past six months and obviously the challenge for him is to sustain the success and build on it, Sport24 reported.

The former Sri Lanka captain said that he has a team of players who are willing to listen and learn, and added that even the world's number one batsman, Sangakkara, always wants to learn something new to add to his game.

Sri Lankan cricket has been buoyed by its T20 World Cup triumph in April followed by Test series victories against England and Pakistan when Atapattu was interim coach.

The former opening batsman also said that the main challenge obviously is to maintain Sri Lanka's recent success. He added that he wants to have transparency in what he does so that all players know what their plans are and how and where they fit in.

Sri Lanka will warm up for the World Cup, which runs from February 14 to March 29, with 15 ODI matches against England and the tournament's co-hosts New Zealand, the report added.