Aussie Trevor Bayliss appointed Sri Lanka's new coach

Colombo, June 15 (UNI) Sri Lanka Cricket today appointed New South coach Trevor Bayliss as the new replacement for Tom Moody on a two-year term starting August.

Bayliss, 44, will be giving up his coaching duties in New South Wales to take up the offer.

Jayantha Dharmadasa, president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), said Bayliss' impressive presentation here yesterday clinched the deal for him and the Board had no hesitation in putting him at the helm of affiars for Lankan cricket.

''Trevor came before a high powered committee comprising Aravinda de Silva, Sidath Wettimuny, Michael Tissera, Anura Tennekoon and Duleep Mendis, who were very impressed with his presentation,'' Dharmadasa said.

Kanangan Mathivanan, SLC's secretary, said ''We knew how good he was and so we signed him up immediately because there are a lot of countries head-hunting for coaches at present.'' A new clause has been included in the contract where either of the parties can terminate the contract by giving three months' notice period.

''We were caught in a tight situation when Moody informed us at the end of the World Cup that he was leaving us. That gave us little breathing space. Fortunately for us we did not have any heavy international commitments at the time,'' Mathivanan added.

Bayliss was one of the names suggested to SLC for the position by Moody. The others included Terry Oliver, the Queensland coach, who was interviewed a fortnight ago.

Bayliss becomes the fifth coach from Australia to take charge of Sri Lanka since 1995. Dav Whatmore had two stints with the national side, followed by Bruce Yardley, John Dyson and Tom Moody.

Trevor Penney, who was Moody's assistant, was appointed the interim coach for the series against Bangladesh which starts next week.

The Board appointed former Sri Lanka fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake as assistant coach to succeed Penney, who will be leaving at the end of his contract in August.

The Australian will have his first international assignment with the Sri Lanka team when they take part in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup tournament in South Africa in September.

However, his appointment is expected to progress without any glitches unlike the Ford fiasco in India as New South Wales chief executive Dave Gilbert has already said they will release Bayliss if he was selected.

A stroke-playing middle-order batsman and brilliant cover fielder, Bayliss quickly made his mark as the head coach of NSW when he succeeded Steve Rixon three years ago.

He became a cricket development officer for the NSW Cricket Association and was a mentor to the second XI for a long time before taking the top job.

UNI