Lillee didn?t like his ?reshaped role? at the Centre of Excellence

Sydney: Former Australian bowling great Dennis Lillee has ended his 15-year coaching stint with the country?s cricket academy after rejecting ?a pay cut, a reduced workload and a reshaped role?.

According to a report in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, Lillee was unhappy with a new proposal put to him by the Centre of Excellence.

In a strongly-worded letter Lillee said he did not like the new role that was given to him which required him to work with Test players rather than upcoming youngsters.

?A proposal was put to me by the cricket academy (the Centre of Excellence) to cut my days down from 30 to 15 per year. They also didn?t want me to do the states, so I would have no contact with the ones who really need the help, the under-17s and under-19s,? he said in the letter.

?They wanted me to focus on the academy and the Test players and wanted to cut (my work) down to about half the days and for me to take a discount on my daily rate.

?I wrote to them and said ?nothing goes down? and I am not at all happy. But life moves on and I have got plenty to do,? he wrote.

?I?m disappointed from the point of view that I felt the work I was doing there was bearing fruit. I loved what I did there,? Lillee said of the fallout.

Lillee is also associated with the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, where he works in the capacity of director.

Centre of Excellence chief Trevor Robertson said while Lillee?s decision was terribly disappointing they had not shut the door on anything.

Lillee?s duties are now expected to be fulfilled by former Test swing bowler Damien Fleming, who shared the duties with Lillee last summer and is regarded as one of Australia?s most promising coaches, the newspaper reported.