The magical chair of Bangladesh head coach
Photo - Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
Coaches are never permanent. In all kind of game, it is a normal practice that coaches are shown the exit door if the team fails to live up to the expectation. Its no different in Bangladesh cricket.
So far, Bangladesh got 11 coaches, few of them got happy farewell but most of them departs in bitter way.
The recent edition in this list is English man Steve Rhodes. After a poor performance in the World Cup, Rhodes and BCB have gone their different ways. As per BCB, it was a mutual separation.
However this saga began with Gordon Greenidge, the former Caribbean stalwart under whom Bangladesh won the Test status and it continues. All of them have different stories in parting ways with BCB.
Gordon Greenidge (1996-99)
Greenidge took the charge of the team when Bangladesh aspired to make the cut in the ICC Cricket World Cup, by making their mark in the ICC Trophy tournament. He took the charge of Bangladesh team in 1996 and impressed everyone, helping them to win the trophy in 1997. Under his guidance, Bangladesh won their first ODI in 1998. The greatest achievement of Greenidge is that Bangladesh beat Scotland and Pakistan in their inaugural World Cup in 1999.
But, after all this great achievement, Grinich left Bangladesh cricket in a bad manner. He was sacked on a day when Bangladesh got a historical victory over Pakistan. His contract however was about to end after the World Cup but the board didn’t wait till then.
The complain that was raised against Greenidge was that he didn’t want the Tigers to attain Test status that early. After the ICC trophy win in 1997 Bangladesh government gave Greenidge honorary citizenship and the Bangladeshi passport. But the ending was not happy one.
Eddie Barlow (1999-2000)
Eddie Barlow, considered as the most genius coach of the world by many was a South Afrcian but those people who saw him crying at the time of his good bye from Bangladesh, it was difficult for them to realize that he is not a Bangladeshi. May be, many good coaches than Barlow has come in to Bangladesh cricket but nobody surpassed him in terms of emotion.
He helped Bangladesh to gain the Test status. He wanted to stay at Bangladesh permanently. But in a sudden brain hemorrhage he lost his ability to move. He was supposed to be the Bangladesh’s first Test coach but unfortunate sickness meant Bangladesh had to give Sarwar Imran the charge of the team. When, Bangladesh played their first Test match, Barlow saw the match sitting in a wheel chair in 2000. He was given good bye back in 2001.
Trevor Chappell (2001-2002)
Trevor Chapel is the younger brother of famous Greg Chapel and Ian Chapel. Chappell’s coaching style was questioned from the beginning. It is said that, he didn’t give anything to Bangladesh Cricket, rather he brought misery. He had communication problem with the players too. Many believed he was the reason that players like Aminul Islam Bulbul and Akram Khan were axed when they had enough to give Bangladesh cricket in Test format. He tried to infuse new bloods in the team but that didn’t work. His performance in home and away was poor too. So, his sacking wasn’t a surprise.
Mohsin Ali-Ali Zia (2002-03)
The pair’s coaching is considered as the black chapter of Bangladesh cricket. Those two Pakistanis are still believed to take the cricket behind at least 10 years when Bangladesh have the all potentiality to flourish. Their style of ‘play with a straight bat’ and continuous bad performance was the reason behind their sacking. Under their guidance, Bangladesh completed a horror World Cup in 2003 and the sacking was imminent.
Dave Whatmore (2003-2007)
Dave Whatmore won the World Cup with Sri Lanka in 1996. He was the head coach of Bangladesh from 2003-2007 and he actually is the mastermind of Bangladesh’s cricket renaissance. That Bangladesh now have come so far should be attributed to the man with poker-faced and stylish mustache. Under his guidance, Bangladesh ended the 24-match losing streak, a worst record in cricketing history. Under his tutelage, Bangladesh stunned the then all conquering Australia in 2005. Whatmore in fact established Bangladesh as a force to reckon with.
In Whatmore era, Bangladesh won their first Test match against Zimbabwe in 2005. Bangladesh also beat Australia in that same year. Under his supervision, Bangladesh made it to the super eight of 2007 World Cup, by beating India, Barmuda and then in super eight phase, they beat South Africa. After the 2007 World Cup, Whatmore stepped down as a coach with an intention to be the coach of India, that never happened.
Jamie Siddons (2007-2011)
Jamie Siddons was one of the most successful coaches of Bangladesh. In his era, Bangladesh performed really well but disagreement with board, giving special facilities to his favorite players and raising voice against the board were the reasons behind his sacking. This successful coach’s ending thereby was not happy one. He is the architect of making Shakib Al Hasan a No.1 all-rounder of the world, he is the architect of making Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah as the top batsman of the world. The quartet of Bangladesh showed the gratitude towards Siddons time and again. Siddons wanted to be the batting coach of the Tigers after two years but he was rejected. In an interview he said, he is ready to comeback as a head coach of Bangladesh.
Stuart Law (2011-12)
Stuart law was the national team coach for just one year. Law passed some regulations for the cricketers in his time. He was criticized for making Mushfiqur Rahim captain instead of Shakib Al Hasan. Under his guidance, Bangladesh made it to the final of Asia Cup for the first time. His had contract was till 2013, he went to Australia giving the cause of family reasons.
Richard Pybas (2012)
There was no official contract with Pybus from BCB. He was loud against several anomalies of BCB. But suddenly, he left Bangladesh after four months. Never came back after that. Although he wanted to be the Bangladesh team head coach once again after Chandika Hathurusingha resigned, the players didn’t want him.
Shane Jurgensen (2013-2014)
A complete gentleman Jurgensen worked as an assistant coach under Stuart Law and Richard Pybus for a long time. After that, he was handed the responsibility of the head coach. But he didn’t last very long as he had some issues with the board. He was accused of being so gentleman and not to control over the player, something for which Rhodes was also accused. So BCB showed him exit door.
Chandika Hathurusingha (2014-2017)
Chandika Hathurusingha was appointed as the head coach of Bangladesh team in May 2014. He had contract with BCB till 2019 World Cup. But he gave his resign letter to BCB in October last year after the South Africa series and it came as a shock. At the end of the series, he went onto Australia to his family. After that he officially said good bye to Bangladesh cricket. At the time of retirement, he pointed out regulatory problems and not playing Shakib in the Test series against South Africa were the reasons behind his resigning. After that, he became the head coach of his home country Sri Lanka. He is not happy there too, he becomes the headline often for the disagreement with the board very often. He may end the contract with Bangladesh abruptly, he is the coach who made Bangladesh a true giants from a team with occasional flashes of brilliance.
Steve Rhodes (2018-2019)
After Hathurusingha, BCB was desperate to find a coach. Nobody of BCB’s likings wanted to be the coach. After that Gary Kirsten of South Africa was given the responsibility to find the coach of Bangladesh as ‘ Director of Coaches’. Phil Simmons, Richard Pybus and Steve Rhodes were interviews after which Rhodes was selected. As experience, Rhodes only coached County Cricket side, Worcestershire and worked as coaching staffs in the England team. It was his first time as a coach of national team and he gave his best.
Under Rhodes, Bangladesh’s performance also went upward. In three match ODI series against West Indies, Bangladesh won the series 2-1. After that Bangladesh won the T20 series 2-1. Bangladesh also performed well in the Asia Cup in UAE by making their way into the final. But Bangladesh failed to win their first title as they lost to India in final.
The greatest achievement for Bangladesh in the Rhodes era is the Tri-nation series win in Ireland beating West Indies in the final. After that Tri-series win Bangladesh also started well in the World cup. They beat South Africa in their World cup opener. They won against West Indies and Afghanistan. But Bangladesh failed to make into the semis with just three wins in nine matches.
It is said apart from being so gentleman, in the recently concluded World Cup, his reading of the pitch and game plan were questionable.
