Rangpur Rangers newly roped in English cricketer Tom Abell after Ahmed Shehzad for the upcoming Bangabandhu-Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Rangers team director Akram Khan stated to media at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) in Mirpur yesterday.

“We couldn’t have got deserved players outside the draft. But we’ve been trying to bring in a player from England, who plays for Somerset County Club. He is not prolific though but we think he will be best for us,” Akram Khan said.

With the latest signings, Rangers completed their out of draft players’ quota and became the fourth BPL team after Rajshahi Royals, Chattogram Challengers and Sylhet Thunder. BPL Rangpur team recruited West Indies Shai Hope but he could be played for only a week for Rangers in this special BPL. So, they brought in Shehzad.

Along with that, the Rangers appointed New Zealand coach Mark O’Donnell as their head coach after releasing Grant Flower and named Mohammad Rafique as the spin bowling coach to complete their coaching staffers.

Team director said it would be better for them if they could get Grant Flower but as he signed deal with Sri Lanka they picked Mark O’Donnell as their head coach.

“We’re going to miss Grant Flower because he has been appointed as a batting consultant for two years with Sri Lanka cricket team. He also informed us about his plan before and sought apology to us, saying that it’s a good opportunity for him which he had been trying for. We had a good discussion with him regarding the matter. I said it’s a better opportunity for him to get appointed for two years rather than working with us only for one month,” Akram said.

“After that, we confirmed the signing of New Zealand’s Mark O’Donnell as our head coach who is expected to arrive within 2-3 days,” he said.

“Our other coaches who will assist Mark O’Donnell are all local. We’ve appointed Mijanur Rahman Babul as our assistant head coach, Mohammad Rafique as spin coach and Saidul Islam Effee as team manager. Only the BCB computer analyst Sree Chandrasekharan will work with us,” he added.

Rangpur Rangers will formally launch their BPL campaign today.