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Dav Whatmore will leave Lancashire at the end of the season to take over as head coach of his native Sri Lanka.

The approach came out of the blue on Sunday and Whatmore told the Lancashire player last night as they prepared for today's NatWest Trophy tie against Hertfordshire at Radlett.

It will also come as a complete shock to the Lancashire club, although they had already been forced to consider the possibility that Whatmore might leave by his application for the England coaching position.

The 45-year-old has another year to run of the new two-year contract he signed last September, but Lancashire are not expected to stand in his way. Whatmore was born in Colombo before moving to Australia as a youngster, and is still idolised in Sri Lanka after guiding the team to their shock World Cup triumph in 1996.

``Lancashire have treated me so well, but the chance of going back to Sri Lanka and having so much influence on their future as a cricketing nation is exciting,'' said Whatmore today.

The offer, which is believed to have been made by the Sri Lankan sports minister after the island's president demanded action following their early World Cup exit and an earlier corruption scandal, would allow Whatmore to stay with Lancashire until he end of the season.

``Lancashire are aware of the approach made by Sri Lanka to Dav Whatmore to take up the position of head coach at the end of September and the position will be discussed by the general committee on July 5,'' said Old Trafford cricket secretary Dave Edmundson. There may even be the possibility that some of the committee will want Whatmore to leave before the end of the season, although it is hard to see what purpose that would serve.

After a difficult first year with Lancashire in 1997, when they were badly hit by injuries to Wasim Akram and skipper Mike Watkinson, Whatmore enjoyed a triumphant 1998 with the county winning the NatWest Trophy and AXA Life League and coming second in the Championship.

They have made a slow start this season, currently languishing second from bottom in the Championship and facing a tough struggle to avoid relegation to the Second Division next summer.

But Whatmore's coaching reputation remains high enough for him to have made it onto the English Cricket Board's short-list of four to succeed David Lloyd - a list which is now down to two following the earlier withdrawal of Bob Woolmer, with Glamorgan's Zimbabwean coach Duncan Fletcher expected to be appointed next week.

Sri Lanka gave guarded confirmation that Whatmore had been approached.

Talks were under way with Whatmore and ``at least three other players'', Sri Lankan cricket board chief executive Dhammika Ranatunga said. ``We will have to have a few more discussions because it is a major decision for their families and things like that,'' Ranatunga said.

Ranatunga's comments are more guarded than those of Sri Lankan cricket official Rienzie Wijetilleke. He claimed today that Whatmore, who masterminded the country's 1996 World Cup win, has agreed in principle to return for a second spell.

``We have worked out a contract on reasonable terms,'' Wijetilleke said.

The news was bound to overshadow today's NatWest tie. Lancashire were without Mike Atherton, who suffered some stiffness in his back following his comeback at Surrey last week and is also expected to miss Friday's Benson and Hedges Super Cup quarter final against Sussex at Old Trafford.

Whatmore's future should be clearer by then.