Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka and his team celebrate with the trophy on the podium after winning the Final of the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 between India and Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla Mirpur Stadium on April 4, 2014 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After the tournament, their coach left the squad to take an assistant coaching job with England. Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka and his team celebrate with the trophy on the podium after winning the Final of the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 between India and Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla Mirpur Stadium on April 4, 2014 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After the tournament, their coach left the squad to take an assistant coaching job with England. Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka and his team celebrate with the trophy on the podium after winning the Final of the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 between India and Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla Mirpur Stadium on April 4, 2014 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After the tournament, their coach left the squad to take an assistant coaching job with England. Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka and his team celebrate with the trophy on the podium after winning the Final of the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 between India and Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla Mirpur S

Paul Farbrace has ‘mixed feelings’ about meeting with former Sri Lanka team


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England’s new assistant coach Paul Farbrace will have “mixed feelings” about taking on former employers Sri Lanka next month but felt the chance to work with his own national side was too good to turn down.

Farbrace met up with returning head coach Peter Moores and a handful of players at the National Performance Centre in Loughborough on Thursday, just 24 hours after his release from Sri Lanka Cricket was completed.

The former Kent wicketkeeper had only been in his previous post since December, during which time he had led the Sri Lankans to success in the Asia Cup and World Twenty20.

His departure after such a brief but successful tenure, and on the eve of the Sri Lankans’ tour of Ireland and England, has caused some consternation in Colombo.

Farbrace, who also worked as Sri Lanka’s assistant coach before returning to work with Yorkshire’s second XI, admits the switch has come at an awkward time for all concerned but could not resist the lure of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“It doesn’t look great from the outside, someone leaving a job after four months, and I understand from a Sri Lankan point of view that there is disappointment because it was a successful time,” he told BBC Radio Five.

“I understand there will be that disappointment but as I went back to explain to them on Monday, the opportunity to work with my own team, my own country, and be working from home was an offer I couldn’t really refuse.

“The opportunity to work with your own national team is almost beyond your wildest dreams. It’s a fantastic opportunity and a great time to be involved.

“There was some disappointment but most people in the room understood the situation. I like to think we finish on reasonably good terms.

“It will be interesting for me and the players that the series in a couple of weeks is against Sri Lanka and there will be some mixed feelings because I built some good relationships - not just this time but the previous time - with the players.

“As a coach you do make good, strong relationships and they’re not easy things to put to one side when you’re playing against them.”

Having had the details of his appointment ironed out in time to get to work with Moores this week, Farbrace is now enthused about the challenge ahead.

“I still feel I’m developing as a coach and I’ve got a lot to learn from someone like Peter Moores in this situation,” he said.

“I would like to think Peter will be in the job for many years to come and in a really successful period for England cricket, for the players and for Peter, and it would be great to be a to play a very small part in that.”

Atapattu will coach Sri Lanka during England and South Africa series

Former batsman Marvan Atapattu will coach Sri Lanka on the upcoming tour of England, it was announced on Friday.

The 43-year-old will step into the shoes of Paul Farbrace, who vacated the position on Wednesday in order to take up a place on the staff of new England coach Peter Moores.

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board confirmed the news in a short statement, adding that Atapattu would be assisted by Ruwan Kalpage, the former spinner and current fielding coach, for both the England series and the subsequent one against South Africa.

It gives Atapattu a chance to make a real claim for the job on a permanent basis, having been overlooked after an interview when Farbrace was given the position in December.

Atapattu played 90 Test matches for his country with an average of 39, scoring 16 hundreds along the way. He also won 268 one-day caps, scoring over 14,000 runs combined.

Sri Lanka head to Europe at the start of May for a two-match ODI series in Ireland, before a number of county commitments.

They will face first Farbrace in a Twenty20 clash on May 20, before five one-dayers and two Tests at Lord’s and Headingley.

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Sri Lanka World Cup squad

Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.

Uefa Champions League play-off

First leg: Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Ajax v Dynamo Kiev

Second leg: Tuesday, August 28, 11pm (UAE)
Dynamo Kiev v Ajax

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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World Cricket League Division 2

In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.

UAE fixtures

Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
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Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
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Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
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Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
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The tours 
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.

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