Ian Pont joining as Bangladesh Bowling Coach

Fast bowling specialist Ian Pont is set to become the Bangladesh National Team’s Specialist Bowling Coach. Pont (49) is expected to arrive in Dhaka on Thursday (September 16) to join the Tigers’ training at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. His contract with the BCB will run up to the end of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

A former fast bowler Pont represented Essex, Natal and Nottinghamshire in first class cricket and retired as a player in 1990. As a coach Pont has worked extensively in the UK and overseas specialising on pace and accuracy. His specialised coaching method is known as ABSAT (Advanced Biomechanics Speed & Accuracy Technique). He is the author of the coaching manual ‘The Fast Bowler's Bible’.

Pont had been the ECB’s National and Regional Skills Set Coach and the fast bowling coach of his former county club Essex. He also has the experience of working with county teams Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Kent as a fast bowling coach. He was the national bowling coach of the Netherlands for two years up until the 2007 World Cup. Pont is a technical fast bowling consultant to Northamptonshire County Cricket Club and is Head Coach of the International Pro Camp based in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

OTHER FACTS

• While playing for Natal in South Africa, Pont recorded the second longest throw of a cricket ball of all time, throwing 138 yards in Cape Town.

• In 1987, Pont had trials with six Major League Baseball clubs as a pitcher. Recording speeds of around 100 mph, he gained a month’s extended trial with the Philadelphia Phillies. At spring training, he was a starting pitcher for the Phillies in one exhibition game, becoming the first, modern-day professional cricketer to play in a professional baseball game.

New BCB chief executive takes office

Manzur Ahmed, a former wicketkeeper-batsman, joined the Bangladesh Cricket Board as its new chief executive officer on Wednesday, ending the country’s cricket oversight body’s long wait for the top executive post. He had a distinguished club and zonal cricket career spanning two decades in the 1970s and ‘80s, was the CEO of Brunei Darussalam Cricket Association before joining the BCB.

On his first day in office, Manzur was greeted by Nizmuddin Chowdhury, the deputy general manager (administration) who worked as acting CEO since the post fell vacant after the departure of Mahmudur Rahman in February 2008. It was a happy reunion for qualified engineer Manzur with some of his old mates who went on to become top organisers while he was pursuing a career abroad having obtained his MBA from the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University.

Shortly after his arrival, Manzur, the third CEO of the BCB after Zimbabwean Macky Dudhia and Mahmudur Rahman, was introduced to national coach Jamie Siddons, his assistants and the national players. His first assignment as the CEO will be to attend an ICC chief executives meeting in Cape Town on September 13-14.

On assuming his new office Manzur said: ‘This is a very exciting time for me. I had always wanted to involve myself with cricket in Bangladesh and as a keen sports enthusiast and former player this is the ideal challenge for me. ‘I firmly believe that good governance is the key factor in enhancing the level of performance and my effort would be to achieve that with the BCB.’