by Rex Clementine

Former Sri Lanka fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake, who was set to join the national team as the assistant to cricket coach Trevor Bayliss has declined a lucrative offer from Sri Lanka Cricket, citing personal reasons. Ratnayake was set to form the new management team along with Bayliss and team manager Srian Samararatne for the Twenty-20 Cricket World Cup in South Africa in September, but Sri Lanka Cricket said that the former Test cricketer had declined the offer.

"I had to turn down the offer reluctantly and it's been very disappointing. It's nothing but personal reasons, " Ratnayake told ‘The Island' yesterday.

He is presently attached to the Asian Cricket Council, for whom he works as a Cricket Development Officer, and will continue in that position.

"The deal was good, the boys were waiting and I was looking forward to the challenge, but at the end of the day, I had to give preference to my family," Ratnayake, a father of three daughters said.

The contracts of the cricket board are generally for two years, but in Ratnayake's case the board had offered him a four year contract. "I am really honoured to have been given a four year contract and everything was good and everyone at the board were good too and it was a sound contract, but for me, family comes first," he added.

The board will now talk with Bayliss to find a suitable replacement for Ratnayake.