BCB appoints Russell Domingo as Bangladesh’s head coach

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed Russel Domingo as the national team’s head coach. He has been roped in on a two-year contract. Bangladesh team was without a head coach after Steve Rhodes made his exit following the Tigers’ poor campaign in the 2019 World Cup where the team couldn’t progress beyond the league stages, finishing eighth in the points table.

Bangladesh recently played a three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka and they were being accompanied by Khaled Mahmud. The Tigers, captained by Tamim Iqbal in the absence of regular skipper Mashrafe Mortaza, lost the series 3-0. A few days ago, Domingo auditioned for the Bangladesh coach job and it was known that the BCB was pretty much satisfied with his presentation.

Domingo pips Arthur and Hesson

As per ESPNcricinfo, the 44-year-old edged out Mike Hesson and Mickey Arthur, the former Pakistan head coach. Domingo is set to take charge of the Bangladesh team from its one-off Test match against Afghanistan next month in Chattogram. He is currently the South Africa A coach and will tour India as a part of a shadow tour ahead of the senior team’s series in September.

Hesson recently lost to Ravi Shastri, who was reappointed as the head coach of Team India. Hesson was the one who took New Zealand to a World Cup final for the maiden time back in 2015. On the other hand, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) didn’t renew Arthur’s contract after the cricket committee met in Lahore on August 2 in order to discuss the team’s performance.

Domingo has a decent track record as a coach. He was appointed as the South Africa T20I head coach in 2012 and replaced 2011-World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten in the remaining two formats- ODIs and Tests- in 2013. The Proteas had reached the semi-final of the 2015 World Cup under Domingo. He continued with the team until Ottis Gibson was hired in 2017.

As far as BCB is concerned, it has recently renewed the contract of batting coach Neil McKenzie and bowling coach Charl Langeveldt. The duo was part of the support staff under interim coach Mahmud in the ODI series in Sri Lanka. Daniel Vettori, the former New Zealand cricketer, will also be in charge as the spin bowling coach ahead of Bangladesh’s tour of India later this year.

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