Bangladesh appoint Stuart Law as coach

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Monday named former Australian cricketer Stuart Law as the new coach of their national team, replacing compatriot Jamie Siddons, an official said.

Law, who is currently serving as the interim coach of the Sri Lanka national team, will join Bangladesh in mid-July when the team flies to Zimbabwe via South Africa to play a Test and one-day series in August.

"Stuart Law was far ahead on our shortlist for a new coach. He has been appointed the head coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team for two years starting from July 1," Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman Jalal Yunus told AFP.

Law, 42, played one Test and 54 one-day international matches for Australia. He also served as an assistant coach for Sri Lanka under Trevor Bayliss before Bayliss quit after this year's World Cup.

"It's not only his experience as a coach -- his strong leadership abilities were a factor in our decision to make him head coach," Jalal said.

"He was a successful captain of Queensland for 10 years and also led Lancashire for seven to eight years."

Jalal said Law would wrap up his work with Sri Lanka after their ongoing series in England. "After that it will take a couple of weeks to complete the formalities before he joins the Bangladesh team in mid-July," he said.

Siddons took charge of Bangladesh in November 2007 and his contract expired in June.

The national board said in April it was time for new leadership after Bangladesh, which co-hosted the World Cup along with India and Sri Lanka, failed to make it past the tournament's group stages.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011