Former South African player Albie Morkel has been named as Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) power-hitting batting coach for the ODI series against South Africa. Morkel is the second South African to be hired by BCB in the last two weeks, with Allan Donald previously serving as fast bowling coach.
Morkel met up with the Bangladesh travelling party on Tuesday at Johannesburg’s Wanderers Stadium, where they were playing an intra-squad practise match.
Soon after Bangladesh’s disappointing performance at the T20 World Cup last year, the BCB voiced a desire to add a power-hitting coach to the support staff lineup.
“He [Morkel] will be with the ODI team for a week or so. He will help the batters,” Jalal Yunus, the BCB’s cricket operations chairman, said. “We will see how it goes, and then decide what happens afterwards.”
Morkel, 40, is on his second stint as a coach after serving as an assistant coach with the Namibia men’s national team shortly after retiring from the game in January 2019. He played one Test, 58 ODIs, and 50 T20Is for South Africa between 2004 and 2015.
BCB has been in the process of reorganising the senior men’s team’s coaching staff. Khaled Mahmud is the current team director, while Russell Domingo is the head coach. Batting coach Jamie Siddons is working with the specialised Test batsmen in a separate camp in Cape Town, while Domingo and the rest of the team are in Johannesburg with the ODI squad, including Allan Donald, the new fast-bowling coach, and Morkel.
Bangladesh has appointed a power-hitting batting coach for the first time. Bangladesh has struggled with power-hitting, which has been seen as their weakest link in limited-overs cricket. In addition to them, spin-bowling coach Rangana Herath and fielding coach Shane McDermott are on the team.
Bangladesh will face South Africa in three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) on March 18, 20, and 23 as part of the ODI Super League. They will also compete in two World Test Championship matches beginning March 31.
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