BCB looking for someone of McKenzie's caliber for Tests
© Cricfrenzy
|| CF Correspondent ||
Former South Africa batsman Neil McKenzie will oversee Bangladesh national team’s batting performance in ODIs until the ICC World Cup next year. But looking at the Tigers’ recent performances, what’s more important for them is a batting consultant for Tests.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Operations Committee chairman Akram Khan has confirmed that they are looking for someone who will resolve the team’s Test batting issues. He also said the board will soon announce a name for this role.
“We’re still trying. We have fixed 90 percent of the [coaching] staff already. We are now considering a few names for appointing a Test-batting consultant. Discussions have been going on. We will let you know about this in a few days,” Khan told reporters on Wednesday (September 5).
The former Bangladesh captain feels they are lucky to have roped in McKenzie despite his busy schedule, and wants a Test-batting consultant of the South African’s caliber.
“We wanted to keep Mckenzie for the whole time. But due to his busyness, it’s not possible. We're so lucky that we got him for the ODIs. The cricketers have admitted it and we also know that he is a high-class batting coach.
“I think it was a great achievement for us to bring him. We are trying hard. He will not be able to give us time in Test because of his busy schedule. However, we are certainly thinking of a batting consultant of this quality for Tests,” said Khan.
Khan refused to make any statement regarding the performance of the current head coach—Steve Rhodes. According to him, there are bigger issues to think about than making a hasty remark on the new coach.
For now, the board wants to focus on utilizing the potential of their players to the fullest. The 49-year-old said that Soumya Sarkar, Anamul Haque, Liton Das, and many other bowlers – who need to be guided in a special way to make the best of their abilities and talent – are currently in their plans. They will assess the performance of the coach once these players have developed their games.
“Evaluating someone so quickly is not possible. You need a year or two in order to judge someone. It is important that in his first series we played very poorly in Tests. But then we did very well in ODIs and T20Is. In all, the first assignment was good. If we can keep it up then it will be better.
“And the biggest thing is that we do not judge someone the same way you do. We are thinking about those who are doing well and those who should be doing well, but actually aren’t. We have talked about that and will try to bring them back in form. Soumya, and Bijoy [Anamul Haque] are some of them. Then there is Liton, who has a consistency issue.
“If we can fix these issues then we’ll become a stronger team. There are some bowlers as well. If they do well, then we can evaluate the coach,” Khan concluded.
