The Bangladesh Cricket Board is all set to introduce a unique two-tier selection policy for the national cricket team with the inclusion of national team coach and manager.
The BCB president Nazmul Hasan unveiled their plan on Sunday after a meeting with national team head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and manager Khaled Mahmud.‘We have deiced to divide the selection process in two parts’ Nazmul told reporters after the meeting. ‘There will be a three-member selection panel headed by a chief selector. They will select the team.
‘And there will be another one which will be known as selection committee. Not necessarily they will have to go to the field to select the team.
‘Three members of the selection panel will be included in this committee and they will be joined by national team coach and manager.
‘Head coach will give a report before any series. He will let the selection panel know his strategy, what kind of players he needs. Suppose he may need pace bowlers for one opponent and can ask for more spinners or batsmen against another team.
‘The manager will give the recommendation of the captain and the vice-captain and accordingly the team will be selected [by the selection panel].
‘Before finalising the squad they will sit again and send the team to me with the signature of each member so that there cannot be any controversy. The cricket operation chief will act as the convener of six-member selection committee.’
The complicated two-tier selection policy effectively exempted coach Chandika Hathurusinghe from watching the domestic matches while still keeping his voting power.
Nazmul last week said he wants the coach to see domestic league matches in his spare time so that he can give better input in the selection process. However, everything changed quickly once BCB president met the Sri Lankan coach, who preferred to stay in home during important domestic tournaments in the recent time.
‘There will be no obligation on coach to see the domestic matches,’ Nazmul said on Sunday in a sharp U-turn. ‘If he stays in Dhaka he will see it, otherwise there is no obligation.’
The two-tier selection policy, which needs a final approval in a Board meeting before coming into effect, also reduced the chance of team’s captain to give his input as he was kept out of the process.
Nazmul said that they did not include the captain as manager will take the input from captain.
‘We have considered all aspects. At times we thought it could be either manager or captain. But finally we decided that manager would be enough,’ he said.
Asked what will happen if a non-technical person gets the appointment as manager, Nazmul said that they will think of it only when it happens.
-With New Age input
