Marathon coach hunt by BCB, inefficency or lack of prfessionalism?

Bangladesh cricket is passing through difficult times, not only on the field but also off the field. In fact off the field incidents are making on the field display even more difficult. Bangladesh is without a coach for last 3 months and that might extend to another 6-7 months. This is awful from the cricket administration of a full member nation.

Dav Whatmore made it public during Bangladesh's world cup campaign that he would leave Bangladesh for new challenge. The decision was conveyed to the board in March 2007, that means Bangladesh Cricket Board failed to find a successor of Dav Whatmore in over 6 months time. All four Asian team lost their coach after the world cup and Bangladesh is the only team still remain vacant despite knowing it first. This is unacceptable to say the least.

Bangladesh requested Dav Whatmore to stay in charge for the India tour which was held in May 2007, a decision which came under heavy criticism for due reasons. They turned to BCB game development manager Shaun Williams for the crucial Sri Lanka tour and the results only show the need of a proper coach, not a makeshift one. Finally BCB announced a short list of three candidates with reasonable reputations. Jamie Siddons from Commonwealth Bank academy, former Australia women team coach John Harmer and Zimbabwe legend Dave Houghton.

In mean time army backed caretaker government dissolved previous board and revamped board with people of their choice in a bid to fight against alleged corruption. The new look BCB headed by an army general failed to realize the immediate need of a cricket coach, and instead of accelerating the coach hunt they effectively stopped the ongoing process.

BCB, not willing to learn from their previous mistake, have again appointed Shaun Williams as interim manager for Twenty20 world cup. Now alarmingly they are not expecting to appoint a permanent coach even before the vital New Zealand tour scheduled in December.

When Bangladesh needed a face lift after their poor display against India and Sri Lanka, this decision came as a severe blow to their cricketing prospect against the Kiwis. This single decision can further mar the struggling reputation of Bangladesh as a Test team. If BCB fail to realize the importance, more worrying days are waiting for Bangladesh cricket.