Bangladesh name experienced West Indian as new head coach
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have appointed former West Indies all-rounder Phil Simmons as head coach of the national men’s side.
Simmons, 61, will arrive in Dhaka on Wednesday to join the Tigers in preparation for their ICC World Test Championship series against South Africa.
The former West Indies all-rounder Simmons, has plenty of international coaching experience. He has previously coached Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan and West Indies.
With the Men in Maroon, Simmons coached the team's winning campaign at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2016.
Phil Simmons speaks the day after West Indies T20 World Cup win
The BCB statement stated that Simmons had reached an agreement to work with the board until the ICC Champions Trophy competition in Pakistan next year.
BCB President Faruque Ahmed expressed his pleasure at Simmons’ appointment.
“I have had the opportunity to speak to Phil Simmons and have listened to his cricket philosophy and ideas. His extensive coaching experience, vision and proven track record of success make him an ideal choice for this role.”
Simmons replaced Sri Lanka's Chandika Hathurusinghe, whose stint as head coach of Bangladesh lasted from January 2023 to the present. This was Hathurusinghe's second term as Bangladesh's head coach, having previously coached the side from 2014-2017.
While the Tigers failed to light up the recent ICC events [Men's ODI and T20 World Cups], they had found success in the form of a historic 2-0 Test series win against Pakistan.
However, this was followed by an underwhelming outing in India, where they were whitewashed in both the Test (2-0) and T20I (3-0) outings.
Bangladesh's next assignment, in the WTC, begins on October 21 in Mirpur.
Bangladesh are seventh on the WTC standings with a point percentage of 34.38.