Simmons to pitch BCB on Saturday

Former West Indies head coach Phil Simmons will arrive in Dhaka on Saturday to give a presentation to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for the vacant post of head coach.

English-born coach Richard Pybus has already made his case to the BCB and Simmons will be the second candidate.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan already the board meeting on Sunday would finalise the position of head coach, which has been vacant since Sri Lanka's Chandika Hathurusingha tendered his resignation in October.

Simmons began his coaching career with Zimbabwe in 2004, but he was sacked a year later after Zimbabwe's dismal performances, including a Test loss to Bangladesh.

After that episode he moved on to Ireland, where he became the longest-tenured coach in international cricket after having stayed with them for 224 matches. Ireland were a vastly improved side under the West Indian and qualified for every World Cup and stunned Pakistan and Bangladesh in the 2007 edition. They also recorded famous victories over England and West Indies at the 2015 World Cup.

After the conclusion of that World Cup however, Simmons took charge of his native West Indies. Although that period was marred by hostilities between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and its players, Simmons coached the side to a World T20 triumph.

Simmons was sacked from the post in September 2016 and WICB chief executive officer Michael Muirhead said that Simmons' vision and the WICB's did not align.

The 54-year-old was also considered for the post of head coach for the India national team, before the job was given to Ravi Shastri.

Meanwhile, Hathurusingha is also expected to arrive in Dhaka today to complete his contractual obligations as well as explain the reasons behind his resignation.