Sri Lankan cricket legends Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan have rejected a request to provide consultancy services to the struggling national team, saying they had no "trust in the system".

National selectors made a formal request Thursday to hire several former players, including Jayawardene, Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara, for a special committee that would advise the team on how to return to winning ways. Last year, Sri Lanka suffered a Test and one-day whitewash to India on home soil, lost a home ODI series to bottom-ranked Zimbabwe, and crashed out of the Champions Trophy in the group stage. They were also soundly beaten in the first Test on the tour of the West Indies last weekend, and skittled for 253 in the first innings of the second Test on Thursday. Muralitharan, 46, retired from international cricket in 2010 after becoming the world's highest Test wicket taker with a haul of 800.