Bangladesh discontinues Rhodes service for national team
BCB : Roton Gomes
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh Cricket Board decided to part ways with head coach Steve Rhodes as both parties decided to separate on mutual understanding, said BCB officials on Monday.
The head coach and BCB high-ups had a meeting at the Sher-e- Bangla National Stadium after which chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed the update to the media.
‘’It's not like we are sacking him. We had a clause that stated we can assess our respective positions after this World Cup though he had the contract until next World Twenty20.
‘’We can call it a mutual separation,’’ he said.
‘’We are implementing it from now onwards that means he is not available with us from tour of Sri Lanka,’’ he said.
In the Tigers’ dressing room and even BCB officials coming to England to watch the World Cup are displeased with Rhodes, according to a top level source.
The reason behind Rhodes’ losing the favour of BCB is because he appears to have very little control over the players, being a gentleman, a type of person whom BCB never liked in the past. The burning example was Shane Jurgensen who was alleged not to control player the way the BCB would like him to.
But the interesting fact is that some players of the national team also agree with BCB officials about Rhodes.
Under Rhodes’ guidance, Bangladesh won their first multinational trophy when they lifted the Tri-nation Series and also beat South Africa and West Indies in the ICC World Cup but BCB and the players thinks his contribution here was minimal, sources added.
Wishing anonymity, one of the national cricketers cited the lack of respect among the players for Rhodes stems from him being too forgiving. BCB appointed Rhodes after Chandika Hathurusingha abruptly ended his contract. The English man was recommended by former South African player and India’s World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten, who took the advisor role for remuneration of US$ 30,000. Rhodes was given contract with salary of US$ 23,000 per month.
At the time of the appointment, BCB thought Rhodes had the X-factor which Hathurusingha lacked, sources said.
Hathurusingha’s rude behavior hurt many people in different roles over the course his tenure. Board didn’t want the new coach to be the same as Hathurusingha. But now BCB appears to miss Chandika’s tough mentality.
