BCB names Siddons as Tigers new batting coach

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that Jamie Siddons is Bangladesh's next batting coach. This comes a day after Ashwell Prince tendered his resignation from the job, citing "family reasons".

Siddons had arrived in Dhaka last week, without a role specified by the BCB - Hassan had said in December that it was "not yet finalised in which area he will work in, whether it is the High Performance, Under-19s or the senior team". The 57-year-old Australian has spent most of his time since watching BPL matches. "Jamie Siddons will be the national team's batting coach. We have heard from senior cricketers and board directors that he is a good coach, which is why we brought him here," Hassan told the media. Siddons, who worked as Bangladesh's head coach from 2007 to 2011 delivering several breakthroughs, was first contacted in May last year when Bangladesh were trying to replace Neil McKenzie with a permanent batting coach. The BCB shortlisted Prince and Siddons, with the former being appointed in July ahead of the Zimbabwe series. Hassan believes that Prince's decision to exit was prompted by the hiring of Siddons. "Maybe after Siddons' arrival, Prince thought we were thinking differently," he said. "But he could have stayed so that we could get him to work in a different capacity." 

The board is looking to hire specialist fast-bowling and fielding coaches, but it is likely that they won't having anyone from overseas in place ahead of the Afghanistan series that begins on February 23. Champaka Ramanayake, BCB's fast-bowling consultant for high performance unit, is likely to work with the senior side in an interim role. "We are looking for a pace-bowling coach who has experience working with international teams. Till then, Champaka (Ramanayake) can work with them," Hassan said. He said that Ottis Gibson's exit as Bangladesh's fast-bowling coach has cost them. "More than Prince, the bigger loss is Gibson's departure. All the fast bowlers said that they were learning a lot from him."

Prince resigns suddenly

Bangladesh national team’s batting consultant Ashwell Prince quit his post on Wednesday, an event that seemed likely since the return of former Tiger’s head coach Jamie Siddons to Bangladesh. Siddons arrived in Bangladesh on February 2 after he was re-signed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board as a batting consultant in December last year. Siddons arrival automatically hinted at some imminent changes in the national team’s coaching setup. The Australian coach was expected to work with the national team but Prince was already working as the team’s batting coach for almost six months. Prince, who was appointed as a full time batting consultant for the Tigers’ in August 2021, was supposed to stay with the BCB till the end of 2022 after the Tigers’ cricket administration extended his contract. However, several BCB officials told the media that they lost their interest in continuing with Prince as the national team’s batting coach after they roped in Siddons, as a batting consultant.

There were speculations that Prince would be offered a different role within the BCB’s coaching setup while Siddons will take over his position as the Tiger’s batting coach. But on Wednesday, Prince laid rest to these speculations by informing the BCB that he doesn’t want to continue in his post due to family reasons and the board also accepted his resignation. ‘The Board respects Ashwell’s decision and accepts the resignation. We thank him for his service and professionalism and his dedicated work with the National Team batsmen and wish him the very best for his future endeavours,’ BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury was quoted in a press release.