Bangladesh appoint Sri Lankan Samaraweera as batting consultant

News came a day after former West Indies great Courtney Walsh agreed a three-year deal to become pace bowling coach

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Friday named former Sri Lankan middle-order batsman Thilan Samaraweera as their batting consultant for the next month's home series against England.

Samaraweera's appointment came a day after former West Indies great Courtney Walsh agreed a three-year term to become the specialist pace bowling coach of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

BCB president Nazmul Hassan said the board was in the process of appointing more coaching staff ahead of a flurry of international cricket, including a tour to New Zealand in December-January and maiden Test in India in February. "We have confirmed the service of Samaraweera as our batting consultant for England series," Hassan told reporters. "Fielding coach Richard Halsall will now work as the assistant coach. We are also looking for a spin bowling coach."

The country’s cricket board recently terminated the contract of the national team's Sri Lankan assistant coach Ruwan Kalpage after he failed to turn up for a training camp.

England will arrive in Dhaka on September 30 to play two Tests and three ODIs.

The tour was called into question after an attack on a café in Dhaka in July earlier this year, in which 20 hostages including 18 foreigners were killed.

However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said last week that the tour would go ahead as planned.