BCB trying to make McKenzie red ball batting coach too

Chairman of the Cricket Operation Committee of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Akram Khan on Saturday said the board is trying to extend the working area of national batting consultant Neil McKenzie. 

The South African coach is working as the batting consultant for the Tigers only in white-ball cricket. But the BCB is trying to hand him over the same onus for red-ball cricket, too. 

"It'll really be good for the team if the same man works with them both in white-ball and red-ball cricket. We're trying to do this. McKenzie will join the team before the first Test (against India). But it is not sure whether he'll be available for the 2nd Test," Akram told the media on Saturday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. 

"McKenzie worked as the batting consultant for South Africa in all three formats. We're trying to appoint him for the same job here. It's really important to have a batting consultant in all the formats of the game," he further said. 

In July 2018, McKenzie joined Bangladesh as the batting consultant for the Tigers in only white-ball cricket. Since then, Bangladeshi batsmen showed notable improvement in ODIs and T20Is. However, they are yet to display consistency in Test cricket. 

In a recent interaction with the media, McKenzie defended under-fire Bangladeshi batsmen Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman and Liton Das, saying they are good enough but need some time to get their best in international cricket. 

Bangladesh are set to tour India for a two-match Test and three-match T20Is series in November. Before that, the BCB is hopeful to hand over McKenzie a full-time role.