No place for domestic cricket coaches in Bangladesh setup?

FE Team | Published: July 31, 2024 00:41:50

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) would appear to have some stigma when it comes to evaluating local coaches and these coaches from the country's cricket system still remain outcasts despite all the bluster of the board in recent times, reports Cricbuzz.
In every sphere of BCB's game development, it is a common notion that a foreign coaches will be in a leading position while his domestic counterpart will act as helping hand and the case is the same in the national team's dressing room, which is filled with overseas coaching staff due to the fact the BCB higher-ups believe they are the best bet for progress.
There were exceptions with Khaled Mahmud taking on the role on an interim basis but that seemed to be more of a stop-gap arrangement than anything else.
Another leading coach Mohammad Salahuddin, who worked as an assistant coach under Jamie Siddons in the national team earlier, seemed reluctant to try his luck in the national set-up rafter taking everything into consideration.
Both these two leading coaches - Mahmud and Salahuddin - refrained from applying when BCB advertised vacancies for different coaching posts following wholesale changes to the national team post the ICC ODI World Cup debacle in 2023.
Both Mahmud and Salahuddin have proven track records on the domestic circuit and many inside the cricket community of the country feel that they can be tried by giving the helm of the national cricket team. However, BCB president Nazmul Hasan insisted otherwise, suggesting that there was very little chance to see any one of them sitting in the hot seat in the near future.
"Why are you asking me this question? How many times have I answered this question? Didn't we want local coaches but no one applied. Did anyone apply? Look at these things that you say that he wants to be this and that no one tells it to us they tell it to you (media). When we give an offer no one comes forward to apply. There is someone abroad and he also says that no one asks him and we invited through newspaper ads," Nazmul reacted sharply when a journalist asked him about the chances of local coaches in the national set-up on July 28 (Sunday).
"Rather than saying these things, the first thing is what you want. If you think that running a team in club cricket or a franchise cricket and playing against ICC World Cup teams is the same thing... and till you don't understand this thing I don't have anything to say.
"Let me say another thing. What is the problem in becoming the assistant coach and if that happens why you won't want to learn. Our main problem is that we don't want to learn. If someone feels that I know everything that will not be good. Why won't you learn because I am learning every day? So if someone has this mentality that he doesn't have to learn anything whether it is a coach or players that won't help.
"I think everyone should learn and come forward whoever loves the country and we are ready to accommodate everyone and with a timeline in mind that in future we can hope that all the head coach and coaching staff members will be local. They have to come through a process but I am not ready to accept anything conditional," he added.
The two domestic coaches were not ready to serve as assistant coach of Bangladesh team considering the profile they maintain. It is also demotivating for other local coaches in the system seeing that two leading coaches of the country don't have any place in national set-up despite proven track records at domestic level and that too with the cricketers who are currently representing the national team.