Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is waiting for a government approval that would pave way for their foreign coaching staff to be available with their charges from the opening day of the individual practice session, scheduled from today (Wednesday), reports Cricbuzz.
In order to do that, head coach Russell Domingo and fielding coach Ryan Cook, who arrived from South Africa on September 06, along with bowling coach Ottis Gibson, who arrived on Tuesday, will need special permission from the Directorate General of Health Services as there is a rule in place that mandates foreign travellers to go through a 14-day quarantine before resuming work in the country.
BCB chief physician Debashish Chowdhury admitted to the sports online portal that they had already spoken with the DGHS authorities in this regard to make sure that the foreign coaches can participate in individual training of players when it resumes.
"We are waiting for government approval [regarding the availability of our foreign coaches from the opening day of the individual training],'' said Debashish ''We have spoken to DGHS officials and they have assured that it won't be a problem [to have the service of the foreign coaches],'' he said.
''They arrived here with a corona negative report from their respective countries and if we get the permission that will means if they [foreign coaches] get corona negative report they should be able to join the individual training session," he said.
BCB's head of physical performance as well as the national team's strength and conditioning coach Nicholas Trevor Lee and national team physiotherapist Julian Calefato arrived in Bangladesh earlier and completed the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's spin bowling consultant Daniel Vettori and compatriot Craig McMillan are expected to join the team in Sri Lanka. However, according to Debashish, BCB is still in dark about their plan of action in the island country considering Sri Lanka Cricket is yet to send the bio-bubble plan through.
"We are yet to receive the bio-safety plan from SLC and we are not sure what will be in place when we go there as the tour can be divided into two parts. During the initial stay, we have to buy all our bio safety measurements while when the official tour begins, we will be under the care of SLC,'' he said.
''It is not that they won't help us but we need to understand how they want the tour to proceed considering the bio safety is a major issue at this moment. They [SLC] were expected to have a meeting on Wednesday but we are yet to get any feedback."
Bangladesh's tour of Sri Lanka, which was scheduled for July-August, was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bangladesh are expected to travel to Sri Lanka on September 27 for the three-Test series that is scheduled to start in Kandy from October 24.
BCB is planning a week-long residential camp ahead of the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. The residential camp is set to begin on September 21 while the BCB will conduct Covid-19 tests in four phases, with three tests scheduled on September 18, 21 and 24 and the final test 72 hours before they take the flight to Sri Lanka.
Debashish added that the stadium will be divided into green and red zones when cricketers resume individual training as part of their safety regulations.
''We are planning to give accreditation cards to the green zones member as it will be limited only to players and support staffs. The field, dressing room and gym will be part of the green zone that we consider to be the safe zone,'' said Debashish.
''For the time being, accredited persons will be allowed to come and go from the green zone but once the team is selected and we start the residential camp and they enter the bio bubble, it will be constrained and they will not be allowed to go out of the bubble,'' he added.
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