Siddons faces axe after Bangla flop

Heads are likely to roll following Bangladesh’s two sub-hundred scores in the group matches of the World Cup — a feat only equalled by Namibia so far when they played in the 2003 World Cup. Nilankur Das reports.

Heads are likely to roll following Bangladesh’s two sub-hundred scores in the group matches of the World Cup — a feat only equalled by Namibia so far when they played in the 2003 World Cup. As former players and Bangladesh Cricket Board officials demand coach Jamie Siddons’s removal, vice-captain Tamim Iqbal has come out and backed the Australian.

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Sources in the BCB told HT that Siddons’s contract, which expires in June, is unlikely to be renewed but Tamim says he reflects what the vast majority of the players want and has voiced that Bangladesh need a teacher of the game, which Siddons is, and not a strategist like Dav Whatmore.

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“Not only as a vice-captain but also as a member of the team, I know what 99 per cent of the players want — they want Jamie to stay… getting a new coach will slow down the momentum as he will have to start from zero,” Tamim wrote in his column in a local newspaper here.

This has come as a surprise to the BCB officials who thought skipper Shakib-Al Hasan was Siddons’s man in the team. Tamim’s opinion could not have come at a better time.

The BCB technical committee, which has very few technical people, meets on Tuesday to analyse Bangladesh’s World Cup performance. The selection committee, led by chairman Rafiqul Alam, and the team psychologist Soumendra Saha too are likely to get the boot.

It is, however, learnt that the BCB is happy with the performance of Julian Fountain (fielding coach) and Ian Pont (bowling coach) and is keen to extend their contracts.

Coach Turner

Ross Turner, Cricket Australia’s (CA) International Development Programme Manager, is all set to take charge as head coach of the BCB’s academy at the Sher-e Bangla Stadium.

Turner was one of the few responsible for the implementation of CA’s model that Bangladesh follows for their junior development programme.