Jurgensen named Bangladesh's interim head coach

Bangladesh have named Shane Jurgensen - their bowling coach - as their interim head coach. The decision was made at the board's cricket operations committee meeting during which the national team's proposed tours of Zimbabwe and Europe in the next two months and playing a Twenty20 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago later in the year were also discussed.

"Our bowling coach Shane Jurgensen will look after the national team as interim head coach until we appoint our next head coach," Enayet Hossain Siraj, chairman of the cricket operations committee, said.

Jurgensen, 36, a former Queensland fast bowler, joined Bangladesh as their bowling coach in October last year. The Bangladesh Cricket Board, though, hopes Richard Pybus joins the team as the full-time head coach; Pybus returned to Cape Town on Friday after a short visit to Bangladesh. "Now we will wait for his (Richard Pybus) confirmation. We will invite the other candidates in the shortlist, if only we ultimately fail to sign the agreement with Pybus," the BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunis said.

Pybus said his visit was a "fact-finding" mission and that he will make his final decision after speaking with his family.

The board has also organised a training camp from May 20 to prepare for a tri-series against Zimbabwe and South Africa starting in Harare in late June. At the end of July, Bangladesh are likely to travel to Ireland and Scotland to play some limited-overs matches before to the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September.

"We have also decided to give our proposal regarding the Zimbabwe and Ireland trips to the board for their approval," Siraj said. "We are desperately trying to arrange some international matches for our national team."