BCB mulls Test batting coach

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is mulling over the appointment of a batting coach specifically for Test matches, as current batting coach Neil McKenzie is only available for the limited-overs formats.

"After [former coach] Chandika Hathurusingha left [in November 2017], we were busy with the appointment of a head coach," BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury told reporters in Mirpur yesterday. "Along with that we were also looking for support staff. Our target was appointing staff who would be available till the 2019 World Cup. The recent appointment of the batting coach was for the T20Is and ODIs. So the plan now is to appoint a batting coach for the Test team."

It should be a welcome addition because Bangladesh's batting performances since the tour of South Africa in September-October last year have been woeful. In 12 innings since the start of that tour, Bangladesh have been bowled out for less than 200 on nine occasions, the nadir coming in their lowest ever Test total of 43 in the first innings of the first Test on the tour of West Indies.

The Tigers were also without a head coach for seven months since Hathurusingha's departure, with current coach Steve Rhodes coming in on the eve of the West Indies tour. During that time they also had no batting coach until former South Africa batsman McKenzie joined the team for the limited-overs leg of the Caribbean trip.

If there is a new Test batting coach, it will mark the first time that the BCB has appointed format-specific coaches.