Sports-lovers will have to wait a few weeks, may be an identical one year and eight months, to learn from the spooky authorities of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) as they have just appointed yet another 'rookie' as coach of the national team.

Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, who is the paid manager of the national team, has been invited to step into the big shoes of Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge, the Director of Coaching for the past 20 months, in what the BCB chooses to call a 'special circumstance'.

And what could the special circumstance be?

Has the celebrated Caribbean coach of Bangladesh taken ill or gone on vacation so that his managerial partner had to take over the mantle of national cricket? Has Greenidge, who had an instant, inspiring success in his first stint as the coach of the national team been sacked because he could not revive the magic he generated in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Trophy in Malaysia last year?

No! These are not the reasons for the unusual and inconceivable handing over of the responsibility.

Needless to mention, the story is different altogether. It's the sad same saga of a bunch of unscrupulous organisers in the Board, who are out to find a scapegoat to save their thick skin from the wrath of crores of cricket-crazy, frustrated fans. After a series of shameful performances by the cricket team in the international circuit, dons of the Board were badly in need of a 'goat' who could be sacrifice publicly to stymie the growing frustration of cricket aficionados. And, to do that, whom else, besides Greenidge, could be the ideal offering?

Thanks to the pluck of the gritty former West Indies opener, Greenidge, following a public tirade by a few influential cogs in BCB's strangled wheel, opted to spill the beans lately through the Daily Star Sport which enabled cricket enthusiasts to learn about every delivery being bowled on the BCB wicket. And there were a number of unfair decisions.

Sensing imminent public commotion, the gang who plotted the hate-campaign apparently took back their horns but eventually stabbed cricket in the back by replacing Greenidge for the important tournament.

BCB, now being dominated by a band of non-cricketers and opportunists, in an expression of hypocrisy and sheer vulgarity, went to the disgraceful extent of passing contrasting judgements for the same crime of poor results. Greenidge got the interim axe but his 'partner in crime' Gazi Ashraf has been given a pat on the back.

Much to the horror and disbelief of the keen followers of the game, Gazi, the blue-eyed boy of Board president Saber Hossain Chowdhury, has been inducted as the coach of the Commonwealth Games-bound Bangladesh team. Gazi, widely criticised for his awful and very questionable tendency of playing the role of a manger, coach and captain simultaneously, is himself accused of breaking down the chain of command in the team. His undesirable intrusion into the jobs of coach and captain is reported to have had negative effect on both the team performance and development on numerous occasions.

But Saber seems to enjoy and encourage the controversial and deleterious role of 'goody' Gazi, who is being paid nearly Taka 50,000 per month in the name of 'disturbance allowance'. While confirming Greenidge's exclusion from the Kuala Lumpur flight, the young president made a mockery of his cricketing wisdom by saying that Gazi should be able to handle this job as the role of a manager and a coach is similar. Smugly unaware of the internationally recognised roles of a coach and a manager, Saber not only projected Gazi as an outrageous choice to Greenidge but he also revealed our ominous journey to nothingness under his leadership.

Critics were caught off the guard first when Syed Ashraful Haque, the BCB general secretary and an internationally-reputed organiser, termed Greenidge a 'rookie' coach and stressed the need of an evaluation on the performances of the coach and manager along with the cricketers.

In one sense his observation was quite right. There is no doubt that Greenidge, who lorded over the highest level of the game for nearly two decades, made his coaching debut with Bangladesh. But it was Ashraful who had to produce his best efforts to woo the star of the yore in taking the job. And soon after the ICC triumph, the BCB bosses jumped into a mind-boggling race to snatch all the credits for hiring the famous man from Barbados.

Now, in a strange twist of fate, they are turning their tail. Did not Ashraful and the Board know then that Greenidge was a rookie in coaching? Should Ashraful get away with his ridiculous comment after all these months?

Moreover, what credentials make Gazi any different from Greenidge in the blurred vision of the BCB think-tank? Can even a child make comparisons between their playing careers?

Without hesitation Greenidge can be said to be one of the all-time greats of the game in the world perspective. And Gazi?

In his playing days, Gazi was a leading cricketer and skippered Bangladesh team that never showed any significant success in the international arena. Although he was a thinking cricketer, he never acquired any coaching lesson and even did not coach any local club. After his retirement, he turned into a garment businessman and was pursuing the trade till becoming the national team manager.

Besides, when the Board has nearly a dozen trained and some established coaches at its disposal, what prompted Saber and Co. to pick Gazi? If it was 'badly' needed and absolutely essential to leave out Greenidge they could have easily drafted in one of the recognised coaches instead of Gazi.

If Gordon is found to be an inexperienced person, and that too lately, by the BCB general secretary, despite being one of the greatest sons the cricket world has ever produced, it is certain that worse comments are awaiting Gazi, who is nowhere near the West Indian as far as cricket expertise and knowledge is concerned. And, probably, the vexed cricket-lovers are holding back the worst for the cricket administrators.