Former Australia leg-spinner Stuart MacGill has declined the short-term post of bowling coach for Bangladesh, ahead of the two-match Test series scheduled at the Tigers backyard from August 27 in Dhaka, as the second Test will be played in Chittagong from September 4.
However, the Bangladesh Cricket Board CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury reiterated it has been cleared to the media that president of the national Board Nazmul Hassan Papon has given the clarification over opting slow bowling coach, as a first major preference for the national team dressing room.
“You know that our president (Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan) already cleared it that Stuart MacGill was our first choice as spin bowling coach,” Chowdhury was quoted as saying by AFP.
Pertinently, the BCB and its management have offered a three-month contract to the 46-year-old Perth-born slow bowler MacGill, in a bid to get some insider knowledge of the Australian team, in the forthcoming series, as the visitors will be led by Steven Smith.
While briefing the Bangladesh reporters in Dhaka, Chowdhury further expressed one has to respect the personal matters of a player, as MacGill couldn’t join the team due to the unavoidable circumstances.
“For some of his personal reasons he cannot join the team at the moment,” Chowdhury added.
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As Bangladesh failed to convince and avail the services of MacGill, the management has already availed the show-term service of former first-class cricketer Mark O’Neill as a batting consultant to challenge the visitors.
Initially, the management had picked him for a month, in order to have a keen look at him and will further decisions about the future in the set-up owing to his services.
“We will now go for our second or third option. We hope within a day or two we will be able to tell something about this,” Chowdhury concluded.
Interestingly, since past one year, Bangladesh cricket had witnessed a lot coming their way which further included a semifinal berth in the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy after completing a maiden win in Tests against Sri Lanka and England, respectively to script the history after achieving the Test status in 2000.
As the impending Test series is vital for the Tigers, as they are trying hard to cover all bases before wrestling against the Test ranked No.4 Australia.
In 2015, Australian side was scheduled to play two-match Test series which was eventually cancelled owing to the security threat in the South Asia nation.