Bangladesh jolted by Dyson blow

The Bangladesh Cricket Board's bid to appoint a new foreign coach for the national team before the tour of New Zealand received a blow when John Dyson, the former Australian batsman who was one of the contenders, decided to take up the West Indies job.

Dyson, who had coached Sri Lanka earlier, was in talks with the Bangladesh board and expected to make his presentation this month. "It's a discomforting situation for us now because it would be difficult to rope in a new coach soon," Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, chairman of BCB cricket operations committee, was quoted as saying in the Dhaka-based Daily Star.

"We had completed all necessary talks with Dyson. He said he would be available from mid-November and also gave us an offer. As almost all his conditions suited us, we would have given him our counter-proposal following his presentation. We felt that we were as close as we could be to seal the deal. Naturally, Dyson chose the better option but now we have to start afresh, which is a difficult task."

The board president's October deadline for the appointment of a new coach is now unlikely to be met. "It's more of a preliminary target than a deadline. It would be better if we achieve the target of confirming a coach by October," Lipu said. "In fact, coaches are not very much available for international jobs as most have commitments.

"We still have two men on our list but it seems that Gordon [Greenidge] cannot stay in Bangladesh for full two years without interruption. We have already sent him our itinerary and I will contact him tomorrow to know his views."

BCB's short-list also includes Australian allrounder Colin Miller, who isn't as experienced as the other two. "Gordon is looking through our international schedule for the next two years while Dyson has also communicated with us after returning from his holiday," Lipu said. "We also added the name of Miller to our list. We can reach a concrete decision next week."