Trevor Bayliss has been snapped up by the Sydney Sixers after being overlooked for the job as coach of New South Wales. Bayliss lost out to Anthony Stuart in the race to become the mentor of the Blues, but he has picked up a two-year deal to coach the Sixers, who will be based at the SCG and are one of the two Sydney sides for the new-look Big Bash League.

Missing out to Stuart last month was a blow for Bayliss, who had just finished a successful near four-year stint as coach of Sri Lanka, and had coached New South Wales prior to winning his first international role. However, Bayliss will now play a key role in the Big Bash League alongside Stuart Clark, who was in May named general manager of the Sixers.

"Trevor is a high quality coach with a huge amount of success domestically and internationally," Clark said. "His ability and respect amongst the playing group provides the foundation to have a successful winning culture."

Bayliss, 48, and Clark can now start the search for players to sign up, with the existing state sides not automatically feeding talent into the Big Bash teams. However, after the Australian Cricketers' Association pushed for free agency in the Twenty20 tournament, there is every chance the majority of the Blues players will be keen to stay in Sydney, with either the Sixers or the Thunder, who will be based at Olympic Park.

"New South Wales has plenty of talented T20 cricketers and when you potentially add in a couple of international stars, the blend of youth, ability and experience makes for a very exciting prospect," Bayliss said. "I am really looking forward to working with the Sydney Sixers at the SCG over the next few years."

Bayliss has a fine record as a coach, having steered Sri Lanka to the World Cup final this year, in his last act with the side. And as coach of New South Wales until 2006-07, he helped the Blues win a Pura Cup title as well as a domestic one-day trophy.