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Rumesh Ratnayake may not be a familiar to many people of this generation but in his time, he was perhaps the best bowler of Sri Lankan team. He played at a team when Sri Lanka was minnow in World cricket. Many countries even did not want to play against Sri Lanka. So, he should be really happy to take charge of Sri Lankan team at a time when Sri Lanka is one of the top powers in World Cricket.

Sri Lanka was the runners up of the recently concluded World Cup Cricket 2007. After World Cup, Sri Lanka’s coach Tom Moody decided to go back to his native country Australia and the post of national coach became vacant. It is great to see that Rumesh Ratnayake is going be the interim coach of Sri Lankan cricket team.

Sunday Times reported:

Former Sri Lanka medium fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake -- the first Lankan to hit the big time with a slingy action and who is now attached to the Asian cricket Council as one of their development officers is tipped to take over the position of Sri Lanka’s assistant coach.

According to a top official of Sri Lanka cricket, its president Jayantha Dharmadasa who is also the president of the ACC has made a request to release the former Sri Lankan cricketer for a period of two years. He is tipped to take over from Englishman Trevour Penny who joined national coach Tom Moody to take up the post of assistant coach in the state of Western Australia.

Ratnayake who is 43 years old at present made his debut as a teenager against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1983 and went on to play in 23 Test matches till he made his final appearance against Pakistan in 1992.

I hope that Rumesh Ratnayake can bring some positive influence on Sri Lankan players. I would surely love to see him become the permanent coach of team Sri Lanka.