DHAKA — Former Zimbabwe cricket team captain and England coach Andy Flower has turned down an offer to take over as Bangladesh coach following the resignation of Sri Lankan Chandika Hathurusingha.
Cricinfo
Flower (49) is understood to have informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) he was happy with his current role coaching England Lions.
Long term, however, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) may face a fight to retain Flower’s services.
It is understood he has been on demand from domestic and international teams in recent months and there may well come a time when he decides it is time to move on.
He is understood to have told the Bangladesh board that he was flattered but the time was not right. He declined to comment.
Flower was recently coach for a World XI side that travelled to Pakistan on a path-breaking tour, and has held a coaching role in the recent past with Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League as well.
The position of the Bangladesh head coach became vacant when Hathurusingha stepped down during the South Africa tour last month and the news became public in November.
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The exact reasons behind Hathurusingha’s resignation remain unclear — Hassan said they were still waiting to hear the reasons from him — he is already in line to take over as Sri Lanka’s head coach soon.
Former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud is likely to step into Chandika Hathurusingha’s position as the national head coach, at least on an interim basis if the BCB is unable to find a foreign coach.
BCB president Nazmul Hassan said the chances of Mahmud taking over were the “highest” even as they continued to look for a foreign coach.
“If we don’t get a foreign coach before the Sri Lanka series, then we will look at a local coach,” Hassan said on Monday last week. “We have Khaled Mahmud Shujon; the possibilities of him taking over are highest.” Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are scheduled to play an ODI tri-series in January.
