England’s shortlist for a new coach shed another potential candidate in a sporting version of Ottis regrets.
At this rate the headhunters busy scouring the world for the right man might simply have to report that it is Ashley Giles or nobody.
Ottis Gibson, the highly regarded coach of West Indies, declined to put his name forward for the best paid job of its type in sport. Once England’s bowling coach, Gibson insisted that he wants to see his present job through. He follows Gary Kirsten, who has coached both India and South Africa with enormous success, in spurning England.
“My name is firmly in the hat for this job I’m doing,” said Gibson, who still has a home in England. “The West Indies job is tough enough and I’m fully committed to this one to get it right and improve the fortunes of West Indies cricket.
“When you’re not working then every job appeals to you, but at the moment I’m working and working hard so that is all I’m looking at right now.”
While Gibson has not taken West Indies back to the summit of world cricket since being hired four years ago, he has helped give them back their self respect. Although they continue to struggle in the Test arena, they are current World Twenty20 champions and have a genuine chance of retaining the title in the tournament in Bangladesh which starts next month.
They will start as deserved favourites in the one-day and Twenty20 matches against England, the first of which is being played at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium on Friday. It is Gibson’s fondest wish to ensure that the team again become properly viable in Tests. But the lure of Twenty20 with its instant appeal and big rewards makes it seem an impossible task.
“The thing with T20, is that as exciting as it is, it is also dangerous for the longer format because everyone wants to be a T20 superstar because of the finances,” he said. “As much as I like T20 cricket I don’t mind saying that I prefer Test cricket.
“T20 cricket is great and winning the title was great, but I would really like to improve the way we play Test cricket and get us moving up the rankings which hasn’t happened as well as I would have liked so far.”
Gibson’s difficulties have probably been compounded by the enormous success of the Caribbean Premier League, the second edition of which begins in July. Figures showed that the inaugural competition last summer boosted the economy across the region by $105.6m (