3 coaches who might be sacked after 2023 World Cup ft. Matthew Mott
Former South African legendary pacer Allan Donald is set to step down as Bangladesh's fast bowling coach after their final league game of the 2023 World Cup against Australia in Pune.
The development came soon after Donald took a dig at Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan for the infamous 'timed out' dismissal of Angelo Mathews. Donald wasn't amused when he got to know from the reporters that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) wanted to seek an explanation for his comments on Shakib.
These issues probably speak volumes about the position at which Bangladesh are in the points table. When teams have tough World Cup campaigns, a change is bound to happen and sometimes the buck could stop on the personnel in the coaching setup.
On that note, let's take a look at three coaches who could see the axe after the 2023 World Cup:
#3 Grant Bradburn - Pakistan
While Mickey Arthur continues to remain in the news with some of his infamous takes on Pakistan's 2023 World Cup campaign, it is Grant Bradburn who is the actual head coach of the Pakistan team.
While Bradburn has the experience of Arthur and even Morne Morkel in the backroom staff, Pakistan haven't quite been able to live up to the expectations in the tournament so far. It seems like they will miss the fourth semifinal spot as they need a ridiculous 287-run margin win against England to qualify.
After the World Cup, there's bound to be a rebuild and it could well start with Bradburn being relieved of his duties.
#2 Chris Silverwood - Sri Lanka
Chris Silverwood got a chance to redeem himself after he was sacked as England coach as Sri Lanka cricket took him on board. While the Lankans failed to qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup, they did win the qualifiers tournament in Zimbabwe and were expected to show a bit of fight in India.
However, apart from wins against the Netherlands and England, Sri Lanka have been far from impressive. Apart from many injuries, even Sri Lanka's team selection and tactics have seemed to be all over the place.
If Australia doesn't beat Bangladesh by a decent margin, Sri Lanka may also miss the qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy. It could certainly be a massive blow for them as they do have several talented individuals who just need a direction to move forward. The writing seems to be on the wall that Sri Lanka will need to press the reset button and Silverwood might be the first to go.
#1 Matthew Mott - England
After achieving incredible success with the Australian women's team, Matthew Mott was entrusted with the responsibility of taking England cricket to similar heights. It started well as England won the 2022 T20 World Cup Down Under and were deemed favorites to defend their ODI crown in India.
However, no one could have envisaged the devastating campaign the defending champions have had. With one game left to play, England still aren't sure about their 2025 Champions Trophy qualification, with wins just against Bangladesh and the Netherlands.
This is a massive failure for their white-ball revolution post the 2015 World Cup and given how they had dealt with that debacle, one can expect England to take tough steps this time around too. With all the confusion around selection, team combination, etc., both Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott might have their jobs as captain and coach in jeopardy.