Tigers’ head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said Allan Donald will be missed as the fast bowling coach will leave the Bangladesh coaching panel after the World Cup.
Saturday’s match against Australia in Pune will be his last as Bangladesh’s pace bowling coach.
Donald officially informed the team Thursday after practice that he will not renew his contract following the World Cup for family reasons although the Bangladesh Cricket Board offered him a one-year extension.
Hathurusingha praised Donald for his work with the pace bowling department in the last one and a half years, and said the former legendary South African fast bowler has brought a lot of experience and personality in the team during his tenure.
“We are actually going to talk to him (farewell) after the game (Saturday). He has done a wonderful job since he has been here, contributed to the success of our fast bowling unit and overall for our team success as well. Because he has brought a lot of experience and a lot of personality into the team so he's been a wonderful coaching addition to me as a coach as well and wonderful experience for me to work with him. So he will be missed,” said Hathurusingha during the pre-match press conference in Pune Friday.
Earlier, ESPNcricinfo reported that the BCB sought an explanation from Donald for his comments on Angelo Mathews' timed out dismissal following Monday’s World Cup game in New Delhi.
In an interview with CricBlog.net, conducted soon after the team returned to their hotel in the Indian capital, Donald had said "it was disappointing to see" that kind of a dismissal and he found it "really difficult to watch that unfold".
Hathurusingha also informed that he has not talked with Donald about his comment on Mathews’ timed out.
Meanwhile, BCB cricket operations committee chairman Jalal Younus told the media that Donald’s comment on the timed out incident has no relation with his decision of not extending the contract.
“Donald is leaving due to family reasons. He told me at Dharamshala that he wants to leave due to family reasons. We have discussed about it in Kolkata as well. We wanted to continue with him as our fast bowling coach. We told him you can continue if you want. But he said the same thing as he wants to leave due to family reasons,” said Younus to the media.
Donald took charge as the Tigers' pace bowling coach in March last year ahead of their tour of South Africa and his contract is supposed to end after this World Cup, on November 30.
Bangladesh pacers enjoyed an impressive spell under his reign.
The likes of Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Khaled Ahmed and even rookie pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib performed well in the last one and a half years.
But the Bangladesh pace bowlers were unimpressive in the ongoing World Cup and put in below average performances overall compared to all the other teams.
The speedsters have shone brightly in the world event and as many as seven pacemen make up the top 10 of the highest wicket-takers’ list.
