‘Want the job if it’s long-term’
As has happened before, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director and former captain Khaled Mahmud has expressed interest in taking up the national pace bowling coach’s position if given the role for the long term. The post was vacated after the BCB yesterday released South African Charl Langeveldt on special consideration.
The move came after Cricket South Africa requested the BCB to release the 45-eyar-old so that he could take up a position with the South African national team. Langeveldt was less than four months into his two-year contract with the BCB.
The board is now looking for a new bowling coach for the Tigers, at the very least an interim one for Bangladesh’s scheduled tour of Pakistan in January-February next year.
The 48-year-old Mahmud previously worked as the interim national head coach in the home tri-nation ODI series involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in 2018 and two ensuing Tests against Sri Lanka.
Mahmud also took charge as interim coach during Bangladesh’s’ tour of Sri Lanka for a three-match ODI series in August this year, which the Tigers lost 3-0.
“I will of course be interested if given the opportunity [as a bowling coach]. Coaching is my profession, so naturally there is interest. I had worked as Bangladesh head coach twice before but for a limited time. It hurts when the job ends and the results don’t come.
“I had said this before… it is better if the job is given for a long term. It is tough to organise the team working on a short-term basis. Every coach has his technique and it requires time to implement. I have watched the Bangladesh team from close and know the players well. Then there is the matter of the players accepting local coaches. It’s a fact that they are excited when a foreign coach takes charge,” Mahmud told reporters at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chattogram yesterday.
Mahmud played 12 Tests and 77 ODIs for Bangladesh, picking up 13 and 67 scalps.
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