Bangladesh close to naming new coach

Bangladesh could have a new coach in place in time for their tour of New Zealand in December, after the Bangladesh Cricket Board named Gordon Greenidge, John Dyson and Colin Miller on a new three-man shortlist.

The team has been without a full-time appointment ever since their long-term coach, Dav Whatmore, stepped down following a successful World Cup campaign in April. Whatmore stayed on in an interim capacity for the visit of India in May, and since then the former Under-19 coach Shaun Williams has overseen the squad's preparations.

The new appointment has been an arduous process and last month three candidates - John Harmer, Dave Houghton and Jamie Siddons - all withdrew from the race. But now the BCB has set a new deadline of the end of October, with three new names in the frame.

"Hopefully, we can give you some good news next week," Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, chairman of the cricket operations committee, told Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper. Greenidge, who coached the team at the 1999 World Cup, would be returning for a second stint, although the Australian duo of Dyson, the former Sri Lanka coach, and Miller, the former Test offspinner, are very much in contention.

"Gordon [Greenidge] is looking through our international schedule for the next two years while [John] Dyson has also communicated with us after returning from his holiday," said Lipu. "We also added the name of Miller to our list. We can reach a concrete decision next week."