Dhaka: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Australian James Siddons as the men’s national team’s new batting coach. The decision came a day after the former South African captain Ashwell Prince, who played all formats of the game for his country, tendered his resignation from the job, citing ‘family reasons’.
“Jamie Siddons will be the national team’s batting coach. We have heard from senior cricketers and board directors that he is a good coach, which is why we brought him here,” Hassan was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
The former Victoria player Siddons was first contacted in May last year for the coach’s job when BCB was trying to replace Neil McKenzie with a permanent batting coach.
“Maybe after Siddons’ arrival, Prince thought we were thinking differently. But he could have stayed so that we could get him to work in a different capacity,” he added.
The board is looking to hire specialist fast-bowling and fielding coaches, but it is likely that they won’t have anyone from overseas in place ahead of the Afghanistan series that begins on February 23. Champaka Ramanayake, BCB’s fast-bowling consultant for a high-performance unit, is likely to work with the senior side in an interim role.
“We are looking for a pace-bowling coach who has experience working with international teams. Till then, Champaka (Ramanayake) can work with them,” Hassan said.
He said that Ottis Gibson’s exit as Bangladesh’s fast-bowling coach has cost them. “More than Prince, the bigger loss is Gibson’s departure. All the fast bowlers said that they were learning a lot from him.”
IANS