Bangladesh's former assistant coach Richard Halsall reiterated that he decided to quit because he wanted to spend more time with his family and not due to the issues he had with the senior players in the team.
BCB opted for an overhaul in the team management after their failure in the home series against Sri Lanka - which was Halsall's last assignment - followed by their failure to clinch the tri-nation series at home. BCB granted Halsall extended leave as he was not available for the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka and went ahead to name Courtney Walsh as the interim coach.
Halsall was likely to be appointed the head coach and Cricbuzz learnt that the change was brought in after resistance from some of the senior players. Halsall visited BCB office on Monday (April 30) and is due to fly back to England later in the night to join the Sussex as their academy director.
''Senior cricketers always should have their opinion. I always tried to do my best for Bangladesh cricket team. I don't find any kind of issues with any of the senior cricketers. I am not aware of the issue,'' Halsall told reporters after coming out of the national dressing room.
''(I resigned) purely just (because of) family reasons. I have got a young family. International cricket takes a lot of time away from home. It is the right time to be with them back at home. I spoke to the CEO and various members of the board just to say thank you for the time in here. They helped me to do the job I really loved."
Halsall, who was England's assistant coach from 2011 to 2014, had joined the Bangladesh for their tour of West Indies in August and later, after the departure of Ruwan Kalpage, he was appointed as deputy to former head coach Chandika Hathurusingha. Prior to that, he was Sussex's fielding coach between 1998 to 2006, and later was England's fielding coach from 2008 to 2010. Having been a former first-class cricketer, he also coached England's Under-15 side in 2006-07 and led them to a 1-1 draw in India in 2012.
Halsall added that BCB need to work out on increasing the number of core cricketers as it will be difficult for the team to achieve success with the present lot. Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah form the core of the team with a number of young players are being groomed around them.
"For the players who are trying to establish themselves in a side that's critical. There is a good core of senior players. But you won't win consistently in international level if you just have those players, you have to bring other players on," said Halsall. "Lots of the other big sides have very significant A team, emerging plan programs but their players don't come through. In a way, it's an advantage for Bangladesh as the promising players are coming fast straight to the national side. But then they have to be supported," he concluded.
CRICBUZZ
