Barnes from the blue
Law too in contention
Vincent BarnesSports Reporter
It has emerged yesterday that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has been positively considering Vincent Barnes as the new head coach for the Tigers.
BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal disclosed the name of Barnes, the assistant coach of the South Africa, while talking to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
"We want a coach who will work exclusively for the Bangladesh team. Vincent Barnes is in our consideration and the discussion is going on and hopefully we will take a decision in the board meeting on Saturday," said Kamal, who evidently asked if the reporters "heard of the coach" during the briefing.
Kamal later informed that they had talked with Sri Lanka's interim coach Stuart Law too and that the former Australian batsman is still in deliberation with the BCB.
"We are still in negotiations with Stuart Law. We are interested about him but we have given him some conditions. If he accepts those, we'll go for him," Kamal told The Daily Star. "It obviously means our talks with him are not over," he added.
The choice has come as a major surprise as Barnes had never before come into any discussion or among the probable names. BCB has repeatedly mentioned since Jamie Siddons's departure in April that they want a coach who specialises in batting as Barnes was a paceman during his playing days.
Kamal however was not too concerned about this as he said that the board will bring a batting coach as well.
"If it doesn't go through with Law, we will take a final decision on Barnes because we don't have much time in our hands.
"If we take him, it is nothing to be worried about because we'll take a specialist coach for batting and bowling," said Kamal.
The 51-year-old Barnes has been working as an assistant coach of South Africa for seven years under Eric Simons, Ray Jennings, Mickey Arthur and lastly Corrie van Zyl.
A pace bowler, Barnes has played first-class cricket for 17 years since 1978 to 1995 and took 323 wickets (averaging an extraordinary 11.95) and has been coaching for 17 years and been in the national setup since 2003.
He was apparently upset after he was left out from the shortlist for the job of the South Africa team that will shortly be announced.
BCB has been desperately searching for the successor of Siddons before the Tigers have their next assignment in Zimbabwe in July-August.
It was told that the board has been facing problems finding a high-profile coach as most of the coaches are not willing to take a long-term role, rather they have shown interest to work as a part-time consultant.
The high-profile coaches also have a high financial demand.
[B]If they are considering a bowler as a head coach then what's wrong with our all favorite IAN[/B]
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