DHA­KA, Bangladesh – Bangladesh head coach Phil Sim­mons has been giv­en a con­tract ex­ten­sion that will keep him in charge un­til the end of the 2027 ODI World Cup.

The 61-year-old Trinida­di­an, who al­so served as head coach of the West In­dies, Zim­bab­we, Ire­land and Afghanistan, was ap­point­ed in­ter­im head coach back in Oc­to­ber, 2024.

How­ev­er, the Bangladesh Crick­et Board (BCB) of­fered him a longer con­tract af­ter ini­tial­ly ap­point­ing him as in­ter­im coach un­til the con­clu­sion of the 2025 Cham­pi­ons Tro­phy.

Sim­mons, who played 26 Tests and 143 ODIs for the West In­dies, said he was grate­ful for the op­por­tu­ni­ty to con­tin­ue to lead Bangladesh.

“I am de­light­ed to be giv­en the op­por­tu­ni­ty to work with Bangladesh crick­et on a long-term ba­sis. The tal­ent with­in this team is un­de­ni­able, and I be­lieve we have the po­ten­tial to achieve great things to­geth­er.

“I am look­ing for­ward to the jour­ney ahead. Hav­ing worked with some ex­cep­tion­al play­ers al­ready, I can see the im­mense promise in this squad. Their skill and pas­sion for the game in­spire me dai­ly. To­geth­er, we can take Bangladesh crick­et to new heights and cre­ate some­thing tru­ly spe­cial,” Sim­mons said.

Dur­ing his time as in­ter­im coach, Bangladesh won one Test match in a drawn two-match Test se­ries against West In­dies and won the T20I se­ries 3-0.

They were dis­ap­point­ing in the Cham­pi­ons Tro­phy, though, crash­ing out in the group stage af­ter los­ing to In­dia and New Zealand.

“My time with the Bangladesh team over the past few months has been in­cred­i­bly re­ward­ing,” Sim­mons said.

“The en­er­gy, com­mit­ment, and abil­i­ty with­in this group have been noth­ing short of im­pres­sive. I’m ex­cit­ed to con­tin­ue help­ing these play­ers reach their full po­ten­tial.”

The ap­point­ment puts to rest spec­u­la­tion on Sim­mons’ fu­ture with Bangladesh and he will not coach Karachi Kings any­more in the Pak­istan Su­per League.

CMC