Bangladesh assistant coach Halsall to miss Nidahas Trophy

Wednesday, 28 February 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ESPNCricinfo: Richard Halsall, Bangladesh’s assistant coach, will miss the Nidahas Trophy since he has been given extended leave by the BCB. Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the board CEO, has said Halsall is likely to return to work for training camps later this year, ahead of series against West Indies and Afghanistan.

The BCB’s decision on Halsall is part of a shake-up in Bangladesh’s coaching staff. After Courtney Walsh was made interim coach and Khaled Mahmud removed as technical director on Monday, the BCB also asked Simon Helmot, their high performance head coach, to continue as batting coach while the high performance bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake will do the job for the senior team now. All the appointments are only for the upcoming T20 tournament, which also features India and hosts Sri Lanka.

“Richard Halsall is still our assistant coach,” Chowdhury said. “We have taken an internal decision that Simon Helmot, the HP head coach, will be the batting coach in the Nidahas Trophy. His experience at coaching T20 teams from around the world was taken into consideration. We have also appointed Champaka Ramanayake as the bowling coach for this tournament. We have limited our support staff for this short time.

“Halsall will not be with the team for this tour. He is on holiday. He will join if we hold training camps for the West Indies and Afghanistan series.”

Chowdhury, however, did not elaborate on why Halsall was given the extra days off when Bangladesh are playing an international tournament. Halsall was appointed in 2014 as the fielding coach before being promoted to the assistant coach’s position in 2016, under Chandika Hathurusingha.

Chowdhury, meanwhile, also hoped Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s T20 captain, would be able to travel with the team to Colombo next week. Shakib, who is recovering from a finger injury, is currently in Thailand where he will take advice from two orthopedic surgeons.

“Shakib has already left for Thailand, to get another opinion on his injury,” Chowdhury said. “He has appointments with two orthopedics today, and we are hoping he can travel with the team on March 4.”