An “interim local coach’ will take charge of the Bangladesh national cricket team for the three-match ODI series at home against India next month. Jalal Younus, chairman of the media and communication of the Bangladesh Cricket Board and also a member of the five-man ‘coach search’ committee, informed so to the media yesterday.
Jalal, while in conversation with the media also informed that a new full-time head coach is likely to join the national team on July 1 of this year.
Bangladesh were left without a head coach after the resignation of Shane Jurgensen on April 28. After much speculation, BCB accepted Jurgensen’s resignation around a week later and formed a committee to recruit a new head coach for the team.
Many names from around the globe have surfaced in the last few days but according to Jalal, the search committee is yet to reach a concrete decision.
“75 percent of the work is done in finding a coach. We are now waiting for the final call. We have talked to three coaches and it can be said that we are on the edge of our talk with all of them. We will eventually choose one from those three,” Jalal disclosed.
A new coach taking over in July means the national will be without a foreign mentor for the home series against India.
“It is very unlikely to find a full-time coach before the India series and we will have to make it up with an interim local coach in that case,” informed Jalal. However, Jalal refrained from disclosing the name of the ‘local coach’ immediately. When queried about the chances of former local coach of national team Sarwar Imran being given the charge, the best he could reply was, “likely.”
He further informed of BCB’s intention of assigning three coaches - a head coach along with two assistants - a bowling coach and a conditioning coach. However, the board won’t entertain recommendations from the head coach for the assistant coaches this time. BCB’s experience in this regard is not a sweet one after appointing a fielding coach under the recommendation of former national coach Stuart Law turned out to be unsatisfactory.
“Discussion with the bowling and the conditioning coach has also been fruitful. Their names will be announced along with the head coach,” said Jalal. It was learned from the sources that former Sri Lanka pacer Chaminda Vaas is likely to get the nod as the bowling coach. BCB held discussions with Vaas during the Asia Cup in March this year.
BCB is interested more in local names as far as the fielding coach is concerned. Jalal informed that the board would discuss with the players before making a final decision on appointing a local fielding coach. However, appointing a part-time foreign fielding coach is also a possibility.
