Bangladesh appoint Thilan Samaraweera as batting consultant

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has roped in former Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera as their batting consultant for the series at home against England. Samaraweera has not played cricket for Sri Lanka since his retirement from all forms of cricket since 2013/14 season.

Samaraweera’s career was largely subdued in the early stages of his career where he could not earn a name for himself as he continued to play under the shadow of the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. However, the latter stage of his career saw him blossom into perhaps one of the finest batsmen of all time and earn himself a name in the Sri Lankan batting legends fraternity.

Nazmul Hassan, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Borad (BCB) stated that Samaraweera was hired as a batting consultant for the England series with the scope of extending his contract for the future. He will be a part of the coaching team headed by incumbent head coach and compatriot Chandika Haturusingha. Hassan also disclosed that he was perhaps the best of the signings made by the BCB thus far and also hoped that he would be available for the New Zealand series as well.

“Thilan Samaraweera, the batting specialist, has been hired for the England series as a consultant,” Hassan said. “We will see if we want to extend him. We are still looking for a spin bowling coach. [We will] get the best among those available. We hope to appoint one before the New Zealand series.”

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The BCB are also reportedly looking for a spin bowling coach to join their esteemed coaching panel at the moment. The spin bowling coach will assist the spinners as well as prevent them from falling out of the bowling standard set aside by the ICC rules and regulations against illegal bowling action. Recently, former Indian spinner Venkatapathy Raju had been involved in a coaching camp that lasted almost a week.