Hathurusingha seeks better communication in selection panel

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha has said that communication within the BCB selection panel will improve once he becomes a part of it. Although not yet official, Hathurusingha's inclusion will be one of the major changes to the selection committee, which is likely to be approved at the next board meeting.

"BCB are going to speak to me in the next couple of days about the plan they have," Hathurusingha said. "I think it is a good concept. At the end I am responsible for the outcome. If I have a say in selection it will make things easier for everyone, the players as well as the selectors. The communication will be much better."

Hathurusingha will not be the first Bangladesh coach to be included in the selection panel. Dav Whatmore was also a selector when he was Bangladesh's coach between 2003 and 2007. Jamie Siddons, Stuart Law, Richard Pybus and Shane Jurgensen were advisors to the panel, although not appointed as selectors during their stints as Bangladesh coach.

Amid growing concerns within the BCB, chief selector Faruque Ahmed had offered to resign if the panel expanded to seven members without a chief selector. However, he welcomed Hathurusingha to the committee. Earlier this week, BCB president Nazmul Hassan had said Hathurusingha would be tasked with staying abreast with domestic cricket.

"I want the coach to watch matches rather than sitting idle," Hassan said. "He will have a role to play. Someone or the other must watch each domestic match so that we know about the emerging cricketers. I don't want a situation where the coach doesn't know anything about a new player. Our contract with him is based on 'number of days' but he is not taking advantage of it."

Hathurusingha, who returned on Wednesday from a holiday in Melbourne, said he was looking forward to seeing the Bangladesh players' performance in the Super League phase of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League.

"I want to see the performance, especially the national players stepping up," he said. "I have been following how they are doing on the internet. I hope the national players step up in the Super League and dominate with the bat and ball."

Hathurusingha, who is likely to have his contract renewed with the BCB for two years, said Bangladesh's foreign tours will be a test of their improvement. Apart from Bangladesh's scheduled tour to New Zealand later this year, there are talks of at least three tours in 2017, excluding the Champions Trophy in England in June.

"I think the next two-three years will be Bangladesh's golden era. Players of the caliber of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah are all at their peak now," Hathurusingha said. "This is the time they have to use their experience and consistently perform in international cricket.

"That is going to be an exciting era as well as challenging for Bangladesh cricket, because in the next two years we play more cricket overseas. In my last two years, we played a lot cricket at home and in Bangladesh conditions. So it is going to be a challenge as well to see our development in Bangladesh cricket."

Hathurusingha said one of his main challenges was to develop a good bowling unit needed to perform consistently in Tests. Bangladesh last played a Test in July last year.

"Playing matches is the best way to improve. If you look at our record, we have not played much of Twenty20 cricket," he said. "Test matches also the same, we have not played Tests for a long time.

"We also need to find good bowling unit, [that is] the main challenge for next two-three years. Whoever comes they have to find good bowlers who can take 20 wickets. We are on the right path. We have found few good bowlers as well as a few good young youngsters and the seniors are coming to their prime."