Rangana Herath and Ashwell Prince join Bangladesh's coaching staff

Rangana Herath has joined Bangladesh as their spin-bowling consultant until the T20 World Cup, while Ashwell Prince will be their batting consultant during their upcoming tour of Zimbabwe. Both coaches will travel to Zimbabwe later this week to join the Bangladesh side for their series of one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is in July.

The BCB's cricket operations chairman Akram Khan said both Herath and Prince would be judged on their performance before being considered for long-term roles.

"We discussed Ashwell Prince's appointment with coach Russell Domingo who rates him highly," Khan said. "He will be with us during the Zimbabwe tour, after which we will decide. Herath will be with us till the World Cup T20. If things go well, we will think about them as long-term options."

Herath and Prince are both on their first international assignments. Prince, the former South Africa batter who retired from international cricket in 2014, has coached the Cape Cobras since 2016 while also serving as a selector with CSA. He has also been South Africa A's interim head coach and batting consultant.

This is Herath's first major coaching role since the Sri Lanka spinner retired from international cricket in 2018, having taken more Test wickets than any other left-arm bowler. He has completed his Level 3 coaching course (ICC/SLC) with a specialisation in spin bowling.

Herath has been linked with the Bangladesh team since last month, with the BCB reportedly also speaking to the former India legspinner Sairaj Bahutule and the former Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal for the spin coaching role.

The BCB had also considered Jamie Siddons, the former Bangladesh coach, for the batting coach role, but there was no clarity regarding his ability to travel to and from Bangladesh and to other tours given Australia's Covid-19 restrictions.

Herath replaces the former New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori, whose 100-day contract with the BCB ended in April 2021. Since the Covid-19 pandemic restricted travel from his country, Vettori had only been available as spin-bowling coach during Bangladesh's white-ball tour of New Zealand in March 2021. BCB coach Sohel Islam had been deputising for him on other assignments.

Prince replaces Jon Lewis, who served as batting coach from January 2021, his tenure covering the home series against West Indies and tours to New Zealand and Sri Lanka, as well as the home ODI series against Sri Lanka. Prince's former South Africa team-mate Neil McKenzie was Bangladesh's ODI batting coach from 2018 to 2020.

Prince is now the third South African in Bangladesh's coaching staff. The others are head coach Russell Domingo and fielding coach Ryan Cook. Bangladesh also have the former West Indies seamer Ottis Gibson as their fast-bowling coach.