Stuart MacGill Appointed As Interim Bowling Coach Of Bangladesh

The Story

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced the appointment of former Australia leg-spinner Stuart MacGill as the short term bowling coach of the national team. The president of the BCB, Nazmul Hasan, confirmed the news and also revealed that MacGill is also the first-choice candidate to take up the full-time role of Bangladesh’s spin bowling department.

Ruwan Kalpage set to be replaced

MacGill will fill the role of assistant coach left vacant by Ruwan Kalpage, the former Sri Lanka cricketer. Kalpage was appointed last year but was sacked for not reporting to duty after joining Bangladesh as an assistant coach on a two-year contract in August 2014.

Nazmul announced the decision after the meeting of the board of directors at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday (July 30).

“We have a shortlist of some spin bowling coaches and all of them showed interest to work with the Bangladesh team. But MacGill is our first choice. There is a possibility that we can bring him before the home series against Australia.” Nazmul told reporters.

MacGill front runner for a long term contract

MacGill, known as an enormously talented leg spinner, failed to create a long impact at the international level due to the presence of legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne. He spent his career under the shadows of the Victorian and got only a limited chances to represent Australia in Tests and ODIs. In all, he played 44 Tests and 3 ODIs and picked 208 wickets and 6 wickets respectively. As a coach, MacGill has no experience till date apart from mentoring some spinners in Australia.

The BCB president revealed the decision to hand a long term contract to the 46-year-old will be given after observing the team’s progress under MacGill’s supervision.

“At the  moment, we are not in favour of giving long term contract to any of our coaches because there are many other factors involved in it,” said Nazmul.

“Firstly we have to see how the team’s progress under that particular coach’s guidance and secondly if the coach is willing to continue with the team,” he added.