Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed England’s Steve Rhodes as the head coach of the national cricket team. His contract will run until the end of the World T20 in 2020.
The development ends the eight-month long search for Chandika Hathurusingha’s successor after he resigned from the post in October 2017.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan announced the name of new coach on Thursday (Jun 7).
Expressing the reaction on a new responsibility, Rhodes said, “First of all, I just want to tell everybody how proud I am to be involved in Bangladesh cricket. It is a wonderful cricket nation. The support that the Bangladesh team gets is tremendous.”
“Sometimes the support can bubble over into disappointment. Personally, to be involved in a major role of being given a responsibility by the board, is a fantastic honour. It is a privilege to be involved in Bangladesh cricket.
“I spoke with (BCB chief) Nizam originally. I am proud that Gary Kirsten, a very respected cricketing figure, put my name forward. The temptation straight away was to yes, of course. It didn’t take long at all to show my interest to coach this wonderful country,” he said.
Citing the responsibility of coaching a national ‘quite heavy’, Rhodes said, “I am very lucky to be involved in some of England’s preparations, which includes their tour to Bangladesh in 2016. I have had a flavour of international coaching. There’s not a lot of difference in how you go about your coaching, but obviously the international programme is quite heavy.”
“Trying to keep the boys up for the game isn’t easy to do. Ultimately, I feel as though I am qualified now. You can see I have grey hair, which tends to mean you’ve gone through hard times. Hopefully my experience will be of real value to the Bangladesh team,” he added.
On coaching three formats, “I don’t see it as a major problem at all. I know that Gary had initially thought along those lines. Lots of coaches do all formats. I am a very hard working person so I think I will have enough energy to cover all three formats well.’”
The former England’s wicketkeeper-cum-batsman targets the 2019 World Cup final for the Tigers.
Rhodes said, “I just told the president and board members that Bangladesh did well in the Champions Trophy in England. They’ve proved they can play well in English conditions. To get to a semifinal in that competition was a marvelous effort by Bangladesh.”
“If we can get to that stage or even further, I am now thinking along the lines of what a dream would be to see Bangladesh lined up for the final. It would be a fantastic occasion,” Rhodes said who played 11 Tests and nine ODIs for England.
During a 23-year professional career, Rhodes enjoyed a successful county career with Yorkshire and Worcestershire.
In recent years it is as director of cricket at Worcestershire, a role he occupied from 2006, that he has become most respected, developing a young, homegrown squad and being used by the ECB as a development coach.
His long tenure at Worcestershire ended in controversial circumstances last year when he was sacked after failing to report the arrest and charge of one of his players. When the matter was investigated he was removed by Worcestershire and as head coach of England’s team for the Under 19 World Cup.
Well used to underdog status and to working hard to improve a relatively small pool of players at Worcestershire, Rhodes may feel he is ideally suited to the task as he begins his new challenge.
