DHAKA, Jan 12: Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad and former West Indian speedster Andy Roberts Saturday were in focus for the slot of the Bangladesh senior cricket team’s coach.

Both had short tenures as batting and bowling coaches respectively last year and are tipped to take over once Australian Trevor Chappell’s tenure is over in June.

After Bangladesh’s recent failures at the international level, reports suggest that their Australian coach Trevor Chappell is on his way out and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad and Roberts are being viewed as possible coaches.

But Bangladesh Cricket Board secretary Ashraful Haque is reluctant to reveal much.

“Right now there are no plans to remove Chappell and we have a contract with him until June this year with an understanding to extend it to World Cup 2003,” Haque told SADA.

But insiders said that the Bangladesh Cricket Board president Ali Asgher had decided to remove Chappell.

Roberts will coach Bangladesh “A” when they take a tour of the Caribbean later this month.

“Chappell is of no use to us, Bangladesh needs a coach from a South Asian country,” remarked Raisuddin Ahmed, a former first-class cricketer who played along Hanif Mohammad.

Raisuddin is the only Bangladesh cricketer to be honored as MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club, the oldest cricket club) life membership.

“Roberts coached the Bangladesh team for three weeks last year and under him our bowlers learnt a lot. Now he will be the Bangladesh “A” team coach when they take a tour of the West Indies Jan 20,” said Haque.

Bangladesh “A” will feature in West Indies domestic tournament, the Busta Cup, and play side games.

Former captain Akram Khan is expected to lead the Bangladesh “A” team and another former captain Naimur Rehman is also likely to be included in the squad.—SADA