Jurgensen resigns as Bangladesh coach

Shane Jurgensen, the Bangladesh coach, has resigned from his position less than a month after the World T20, where his team won just two out of seven matches. BCB officials, however, have not ruled out convincing him to stay till his two-year contract ends on February 2015.

BCB's cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan, effectively Jurgensen's boss, has already called it an "emotional decision" and that there will be a meeting with the coach when he arrives in the country later this week.

"Just before I entered the board's emergency meeting today, I got a letter from our head coach telling us that he has resigned," Akram said. "One of the reasons he has given is that he saw in the media that some directors have spoken against him. There was no official communication with him in this regard. I didn't expect such a letter.

"The head coach has told us that he wants to stay till the India series (in June). It seems to me that it was an emotional decision. He will come to Bangladesh, and we must discuss before we can think of taking any decisions."

There had been talk within the BCB to replace the coaches after Bangladesh's woeful home season. The team managed just one win in the Sri Lanka series, lost all four Asia Cup games and in the World T20, they could only manage wins against Afghanistan and Nepal but lost to Hong Kong.

The first such statement came from the BCB president Nazmul Hassan during the World T20, but he stopped short of suggesting that the coaching staff would be replaced, merely saying that there will be a lot of changes. In subsequent press briefings, Hassan said there was a plan to hire specialist coaches for short-term duty.

Some board directors, citing anonymity, told ESPNcricinfo recently that they are actively searching for a coach with a batting background but haven't found one. Jurgensen, a former fast bowler who represented three domestic teams in Australia, expressed his disappointment at the matter, saying he was reconsidering his position.

Akram has criticised the discussion on appointing a new coach, which he believes has affected the players and coaching staff. "I don't think people should talk in this manner. The board president will take the decision. There was no official discussion, so it doesn't help Bangladesh cricket when this sort of talk happens.

"It has happened before, which I feel has always affected the players and coaching staff. After such bad performances recently, discussions were bound to happen at all levels. But we didn't make anything official," he said.

Jurgensen bagged the two-year deal in February last year keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup. During his time as full-time head coach, Bangladesh won a Test match after four years, against Zimbabwe, and drew Tests against Sri Lanka (in Galle) and against New Zealand at home. They also drew an ODI series in Sri Lanka and blanked New Zealand 3-0.