The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed former England wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes as the National Team Head Coach.

Rhodes, 53, has agreed terms with the BCB which will see him in the Head Coach’s position up to the ICC World Twenty20 in Australia in 2020. He will take over in his new role ahead of the Bangladesh team’s Tour of West Indies 2018. The Bangladesh side is scheduled to leave for the Caribbean on 23 June to play two Tests, three ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals, says a BCB media release.

Rhodes had appeared in 11 Tests and nine ODIs for England. He had a distinguished first class career in English county cricket for Yorkshire (1981-1984) and Worcestershire (1985-2004) where he scored 14,839 runs and recorded 1263 dismissals. Following his retirement as a player, Rhodes served as coach (2005) and Director of Coaching (2006-2017) at Worcestershire. He was a member of the England coaching staff during the team’s Tour of Bangladesh in 2016.

Rhodes said he was delighted at the opportunity to coach Bangladesh : ‘I am very excited and looking forward to starting my work with an extremely talented group of cricketers.

‘I have had the opportunity to experience first-hand the quality of this Bangladesh side when I was here with the England team in 2016. I have also followed their performance in the ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales last year where they proved that they could adapt to any condition by making it to the semifinals.

‘There is plenty of potential in Bangladesh cricket and I hope to contribute with my experience and skills in bringing the best out of this team and make them better. Obviously, coaching an international cricket side is demanding and hard but that is a challenge I am eager to take.’