Dav Whatmore leaves for Australia

Dhaka, June 1 (UNI) Coach Dav Whatmore left here for Australia this afternoon after completing his eventful four-year term with the Bangladesh team.

After a disappointing performance in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Sri Lankan-born Aussie Whatmore took charge as the coach of Bangladesh cricket team and created what could be termed as a golden era in the country's brief cricketing history.

Under his coaching, Bangladesh won both the ODI and Test Series against Zimbabwe on home soil in 2005 and also have had the sweet memories of beating strong teams like India, Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa and guided the team to Super Eights of the recently-concluded World Cup in the Caribbean.

During Whatmore's 4-year tenure, Bangladesh played 90 ODIs and won on 33 occasions, but the Test record was not as good and the 10th ranked nation managed only one win out of 27 matches.

The 53-year old veteran coach will, however, be remembered for a long time as Bangladesh earned their lone Test match victory against Zimbabwe in 2005 in Chittagong under his guidance.

He could have enjoyed more Test wins as Bangladesh had couple of close matches against mighty Australia, Pakistan and West Indies.

Meanwhile, BCB vice president Shah Nurul Kabir Shaheen, general secretary Mahbubul Anam and team manager Ali Asif Khan were at the airport to bid goodbye to the outgoing coach.

Earlier the BCB accorded farewell to Whatmore at the Board's Gulshan office yesterday.

UNI