Gibson appointed West Indies coach

Former right-arm pacer Ottis Gibson will take over as West Indies coach for the home series against Zimbabwe starting with the Twenty20 match on February 28 in Port of Spain.

In an interview to CBC Radio, the West Indies Cricket Board chief executive Ernest Hilaire has confirmed that Gibson has left his job as England's bowling coach to take up the assignment with the national team, which has been lying vacant after John Dyson's sacking last year.

"Ottis will begin his appointment from the start of the home series against Zimbabwe. I think we need to take Ottis's appointment in stride. He will be the head coach of the WICB, and not just head coach of the senior team. He will have responsibility for coaching right across all of our representative cricket teams," Hilaire said.

"This will give him an opportunity to stamp a particular style of coaching a West Indies way across all the teams. This is really important because by the time our players reach the senior team, they should be the finished article, and they really ought to be focusing mainly on their strategy, tactics, how they win games, and being able to execute," he said.

But for the time being interim coach David Williams will be in charge of the West Indies team for the forthcoming ODI tour of Australia, starting next week before becoming Gibson's assistant.