Bangladesh to play without head coach in the tri-series

The Bangladesh national team will be without a head coach for the upcoming ODI tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, as well as the Test and T20I series against Sri Lanka. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan said the board is still on the lookout for a permanent coach after the position was left vacant in November when Chandika Hathurusingha resigned.

Hathurusingha has now taken up the role of a head coach for the Sri Lankan national team. The BCB had spoken to Andy Flower, Justin Langer, Tom Moody, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara as possible candidates for Hathurusingha’s replacement. However, all five declined.

Thus in the absence of a permanent coach, Hassan has revealed that Richard Halsall, the assistant coach, will be in charge of coaching the side while manager Khaled Mahmud, Shakib Al Hasan, and Mashrafe Mortaza will share responsibilities in the absence of a permanent head coach.

BCB also interviewed Richard Pybus and Phil Simmons, who was named as Afghanistan’s coach on December 31. In the interim, Halsall will take an overall role while Mahmud will be tasked with a dynamic role.

Interim coaching setup

Speaking about the current set-up BCB president Hassan said, “The existing support staff will remain as it is. We will still be looking for a permanent coach during this time. But for this series, Khaled Mahmud, who has been working as a manager and an inter-link between the board and the players, is given a designation. I think Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza will act as coaches. A lot of it will depend on the senior players; they are confident that they can take up the challenge. Richard Halsall will be in charge of coaching.”

Mahmud has been overseeing day-to-day activities during the first week of the preliminary camp in Mirpur in the absence of Halsall, bowling coach Courtney Walsh and spin-bowling coach Sunil Joshi.