Mohammad Isam
Dhaka, August 20 (ESPN cricinfo): The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has terminated the contract of assistant coach Ruwan Kalpage after he failed to turn up for work by August 16. Media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said Kalpage did not respond to the BCB’s latest letter.
“We had sent him a letter asking him to return to work by August 16, but he didn’t respond to us. So the BCB has terminated his contract,” Yunus told ESPNcricinfo.
On August 17, BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury had said that the board would “take action” against Kalpage for not turning up by the deadline. Kalpage and the BCB had been in constant touch in the previous few weeks, after he voiced concerns over his safety in Dhaka.
According to the BCB, the other foreign coaching staff had indicated similar concerns, but those were addressed by the provision of extra security. Head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, fielding coach Richard Halsall and strength and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayan all returned to Dhaka earlier this month. They have been each assigned a security officer.
The BCB had sent Kalpage a notice last week to return to work as they felt his “claim isn’t the right assessment of the situation”.
The BCB had sent Kalpage a notice last week to return to work as they felt his “claim isn’t the right assessment of the situation”.
Kalpage had joined the Bangladesh set-up as assistant coach on a two-year contract in August 2014, following the appointments of Hathurusingha and Villavarayan. Like the rest of Bangladesh’s foreign coaching staff, he was given an extension till the 2019 World Cup. He had earlier worked in Bangladesh as the National Cricket Academy’s head coach from 2008 to 2010.
