BCB president names Jamie Siddons Bangladesh's new batting coach

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that Jamie Siddons is Bangladesh's next batting coach. This comes a day after Ashwell Prince tendered his resignation from the job, citing "family reasons".

Siddons had arrived in Dhaka last week, without a role specified by the BCB - Hassan had said in December that it was "not yet finalised in which area he will work in, whether it is the High Performance, Under-19s or the senior team". The 57-year-old Australian has spent most of his time since watching BPL matches.

"Jamie Siddons will be the national team's batting coach. We have heard from senior cricketers and board directors that he is a good coach, which is why we brought him here," Hassan told Prothom Alo.

Siddons, who worked as Bangladesh's head coach from 2007 to 2011 delivering several breakthroughs, was first contacted in May last year when Bangladesh were trying to replace Neil McKenzie with a permanent batting coach. The BCB shortlisted Prince and Siddons, with the former being appointed in July ahead of the Zimbabwe series.

Hassan believes that Prince's decision to exit was prompted by the hiring of Siddons. "Maybe after Siddons' arrival, Prince thought we were thinking differently," he said. "But he could have stayed so that we could get him to work in a different capacity."

The board is looking to hire specialist fast-bowling and fielding coaches, but it is likely that they won't having anyone from overseas in place ahead of the Afghanistan series that begins on February 23. Champaka Ramanayake, BCB's fast-bowling consultant for high performance unit, is likely to work with the senior side in an interim role.

"We are looking for a pace-bowling coach who has experience working with international teams. Till then, Champaka (Ramanayake) can work with them," Hassan said.

He said that Ottis Gibson's exit as Bangladesh's fast-bowling coach has cost them. "More than Prince, the bigger loss is Gibson's departure. All the fast bowlers said that they were learning a lot from him."