Lance Kluesner

Former South African all rounder Lance Kluesner is all set to be the new Bangladesh bowling coach. According to recent reports by the Bangladesh Cricket Board, the former Protean might fill in by the gap left by former bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake, a former Sri Lankan bowler who quit the job citing illness.

In his playing days Kluesner had always adopted a bowling plan that seemed to have been influenced by his stint with the army – if you can’t hit the stumps, hit the batsman. Kluesner had been a revelation for the South African side ever since his first Test outing against India at the Eden Garden where he scalped 8 wickets for a miserly 64 runs.

But the image of Kluesner that remains etched in every cricket lover’s memory is his baseball like batting stance that most of the time was followed by his thunderous hitting that cleared the ropes with ease. The 1999 world cup was symbolized by Kluesner’s blitzkriegs with the bat that had him maintaining an average of 145 with the bat in the tournament. Zulu’s heroics with the bat almost took the Proteans to the finals. Coming from a guy who made his entry into first class cricket as a number 11 batsman, this was a huge turnaround.

According to reports from the Daily Star the Bangladesh Cricket Board has received seven applications for the post but Kluesner is the clear favourite and is being tipped to take over the job. The Bangladesh boys have the 2011 world cup up next year and want someone experienced to improve their bowling skills that generally has been a cause of worry conceding over six runs an over in every match.

By: Soubhik Ray

Tags: Bangladesh, Bangladesh Cricket Board, BCB, Bowling Coach, Cricket, Lance Kluesner, Sports, Sports World