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Newell pulls out of running for Bangladesh job

Mick Newell will be staying at Nottinghamshire where he has coached for 10 years © PA Photos

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Mick Newell has withdrawn from the running to be the next Bangladesh coach. Newell, the director of cricket at Nottinghamshire, had been shortlisted as a candidate to replace Stuart Law in the role but has now informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) that he is not available for family reasons.

Newell's withdrawal leaves Richard Pybus as the overwhelming favourite to land the job. While the BCB have a shortlist of names that includes Mark Greatbatch, Dermot Reeve and Kepler Wessels, Pybus remains their preferred candidate. Law stood down in order to take the role of high performance coach at Australia's Centre of Excellence. Shane Jurgensen, who had been the bowling coach, has been appointed as interim Bangladesh coach.

"It is hugely flattering to be linked to such a job and, in many ways, it is a very attractive opportunity," Newell told ESPNcricinfo. "But I just felt that the time was not quite right for me. I have twins aged eight and didn't think they were at the age where they would understand if I was away for 10 or 11 months of the year.

"The other thing was that I knew that if I took the job, I would probably never coach Nottinghamshire again. I've worked for the club for 30 years and I've been coaching there for 10 years. It doesn't get much better than working for Nottinghamshire and I would have to think very carefully before leaving."

Negotiations between 47-year-old Newell and the BCB never progressed to the point where finances or length of contract were discussed. Instead, Newell, who has twice (2005 and 2010) overseen Nottinghamshire winning the County Championship, asked for some details about the position and then made his decision.

"My questions were about how they saw the role of the head coach and support staff. We never talked about money. They responded and, after 24 hours having a think about things, I decided that the time wasn't quite right for me to pursue this.

"It is a role that would be of huge interest at the right time. I hope I haven't ruled myself out of contention in the future as coaching an international team remains something I would like to do. I'd love to coach England at some stage - I'm sure any coach will tell you they want to work with the best players they can but, due to the age of my children, I have notified the BCB that I am not available for this role."

George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo

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