BCB ends contracts with head coach Rhodes, bowling coach Walsh

Bangladesh Cricket Board or BCB has decided to terminate the contracts of national team head coach Steve Rhodes and bowling coach Courtney Walsh by mutual consent following the team’s exit from the limited overs World Cup.

Rhodes’ contract was set to run until the Twenty20 World Cup in 2020.

But the BCB decided against prolonging the Englishman’s tenure as head coach due to the Tigers’ performances at the showpiece event in England falling short of expectations.

The board will pick a coach for Bangladesh's upcoming tour of Sri Lanka in its next meeting, Jalal Yunus, the head of BCB's media wing, told bdnews24.com.

"Rhodes will not be working with us any longer. The decision was mutually agreed upon. The board will hold a meeting on July 20 or 21. A decision on the coach for the Sri Lanka tour will be taken then."

Rhodes was appointed as head coach in June last year. The 56-year-old's tenure started off in a disastrous fashion as the Tigers were whittled out for an embarrassing 43 on day one of the first Test match against the West Indies in the Carribean. 
 
Bangladesh went on to be whitewashed in the Test series before turning their fortunes around by winning both the ODI and Twenty20 series. 

The Tigers later beat the Carribeans in both the Test and ODI series on home soil. The team also reached the final of the Asia Cup under the tutelage of Rhodes before winning their first ever multi-lateral tournament involving hosts Ireland and the West Indies. 

But the Tigers failed to achieve the success they had hoped for in the World Cup. Targeting a semi-final berth, Bangladesh ended their campaign in the 8th place in the table. 

Jalal said the BCB held a meeting at the end of the tournament in which it evaluated the performance of the team's coaches.  

It subsequently came to a decision to not extend the contracts of pace bowling coach Walsh and physio Tihan Chandramohan while the fate of fielding coach Ryan Cook is still up in the air.