BCB hoping to appoint batting consultant soon

Sports Desk

With the home series against the West Indies scheduled to begin in January drawing nearer, the Bangladesh Cricket Board is looking to fill the vacant post of batting coach. Former South Africa batsman Neil McKenzie resigned as Tigers’ limited-overs batting consultant in August this year, ending a two-year stint with Bangladesh.

BCB then roped in former New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan as a replacement for the tour of Sri Lanka, but after the shock of his father’s death, he decided not to continue in his role with the Tigers.

The board has since been looking for other candidates and it was learned that the BCB is in talks with former English cricketer and Durham head coach Jon Lewis for the post of the Tigers’ batting consultant for the upcoming West Indies series.

“We have a few candidates for the post of batting consultant of our national team and we are in talks with them,” Akram Khan, chairman of BCB’s cricket operations committee, told the media yesterday. “At the moment it won’t be appropriate to disclose any name as we are yet to finalise anyone. As you know, we had Craig McMillan as the batting consultant for the Sri Lanka series, but he couldn’t join us for family reasons.

“Although the tour of Sri Lanka was eventually postponed, we were looking for a new batting coach. Hopefully, we will be able to appoint one soon.” The 50-year-old Lewis was also among the shortlisted candidates for the batting consultant post after McKenzie left the job, and was even expected to arrive in Bangladesh for an interview.

Lewis had the experience of coaching in the subcontinent as he worked as Sri Lanka’s batting coach in the ICC World Cup in 2019. He was also instrumental in Durham winning the Royal London One-Day Cup title back in 2014.

Meanwhile, the selectors have already chalked out the squads for the series against West Indies, who are scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on January 10. The Caribbean side will take part in a three-match ODI and two-match Test series.

Akram had previously informed that the national camp for the West Indies series is expected to start by the first week of January and the foreign coaching staff, including head coach Russell Domingo, is expected to join the side by the time.