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He was initially appointed only for the Zimbabwe tour, but positive feedback from the players spurred the BCB to extend his stay
Ashwell Prince was originally supposed to return to the Cape Cobras after the Zimbabwe tour
The BCB has extended former South Africa batter Ashwell Prince‘s contract as batting consultant up to this year’s T20 World Cup. Prince was initially roped in only for Bangladesh’s tour of Zimbabwe, which concluded on Sunday, with the understanding that he would return to coaching the South African domestic side Cape Cobras.
But according to Akram Khan, the BCB’s cricket operations chairman, the BCB remains satisfied with Prince’s work in Zimbabwe after having received positive feedback from some of the players during the tour.
“We had appointed him for the Zimbabwe series initially,” Khan said. “Since it will be hard to get a coach before the T20 World Cup, we took a bit of feedback and it has been generally positive. I think some of our batsmen did really well in Zimbabwe. Some of the players told us that they have confidence in him. They are satisfied with his work.
“So we plan to go ahead with him. We can confirm that he is with us till the T20 World Cup. We will take on a decision on his further involvement over the course of the next week.”
After the first day’s play during Bangladesh’s one-off Test in Zimbabwe, at the end of which wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das had scored 95, Prince hailed Das for breaking through the concentration barrier, following which Das too acknowledged Prince’s contribution just before play began the next day.
Shortly after taking the role, Prince had said that since his job was only restricted to one tour, he would look to stay out of the way of the batters and instead only look to help out Russell Domingo, the head coach.
Prince had joined the Bangladesh coaching staff alongside former Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath, who was appointed spin-bowling coach until the T20 World Cup. Prince’s extension gives Bangladesh’s coaches some stability going into a busy season, which includes T20Is against Australia and New Zealand, and culminates with the T20 World Cup that begins in mid-October.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
Source: ESPN Crickinfo
