Steve Rhodes‘ term as Bangladesh’s head coach has come to a premature end following the team’s eighth-place finish at the World Cup.
Rhodes, who took over in June 2018, was on a two-year contract that was originally set to run until next year’s World T20. The BCB and Rhodes have now agreed to terminate the contract by mutual consent.
“The board had a review following the Pakistan match [Bangladesh’s last at the World Cup] in a meeting in London,” Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB CEO, told ESPNcricinfo. “There it was decided that the BCB and Steve Rhodes will not continue on their agreement. The separation was by mutual consent.
“The BCB has not yet decided on a new coach for the Sri Lanka series, which is their next assignment.”
Bangladesh will tour Sri Lanka in late July for a three-match ODI series. They will be without most of the coaching staff who were at the World Cup for it.
Neil McKenzie, the limited-overs batting coach, will be on personal leave during the tour, while the contracts of fast-bowling coach Courtney Walsh, spin-bowling coach Sunil Joshi, and physio Thihan Chandramohan – all of which ended with the World Cup – have not been extended. The only members of the World Cup backroom in Sri Lanka will be fielding coach Ryan Cook and analyst Shrinivas Chandrasekaran.
Walsh, who took over as fast-bowling coach in August 2016, also spent three months as interim head coach, between the time of Chandika Hathurusingha‘s resignation and Rhodes’ appointment.
Bangladesh made an impressive start to their World Cup campaign with wins over South Africa and West Indies keeping them in the hunt for a semi-final spot. Their campaign petered away eventually, though, with only one more win – against Afghanistan – coming from their last four matches.
There was speculation about Rhodes’ role – and future – through the course of the tournament, with BCB members saying in informal discussions that he wasn’t living up to their expectations.