Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed the former England cricketer Jon Lewis as the batting coach of the national team. Lewis will be the in-charge of the batting department for the side’s upcoming series against West Indies and New Zealand.
Lewis, 50, comes in with the experience as a batting coach of the Sri Lankan team in the past, will also replace Neil McKenzie as the new batting coach. McKenzie had already resigned from the position back in August citing personal reasons end ever since the national team has been without a batting coach.
Akram Khan, chairman of operations at BCB affirmed on why the board chose Lewis over the other candidates for the vacated position.
“He [Lewis] is coming in a day or two, after which we will speak in person,” Akram said.
“We had three or four coaches in our shortlist but we considered his experience. After discussing the shortlist among ourselves, including the head coach, we decided to select him. Due to the pandemic, nobody wants to go on a long-term contract. We will see him for a couple of series and then see if we can keep him for a longer period.” he added.
Lewis has seen great success in the domestic cricket in England that includes his stint with Durham between 2013-16 in which they won three titles. Moreover, he was associated with the Sri Lanka team until 2019 World Cup before parting ways with them.
Besides, he also worked closely with England’s One Day International team during their series against Ireland in August last year.
Bangladesh is slated to play against West Indies for the three-match ODI series, followed by two Tests starting at the end of this month.
