WEST INDIES COACH STAYS ON

St. John's, Antigua: Ottis Gibson is set to remain as coach of the West Indies for a further three years after it was announced he had a signed a new contract.

The former West Indies paceman had been linked with a move to English county champions Warwickshire, following Ashley Giles's appointment as England one-day coach, before the Midlands side promoted Dougie Brown from within their existing set-up.

However, Gibson - who is presently overseeing the West Indies' tour of Australia - has now clarified his future by signing a new three-year contract which will run till 2016.

The 43-year-old has served as West Indies coach for the past three years, from January 2010, having previously been England bowling coach.

"Ottis has added significant value to the development of the West Indies team during his tenure and we are delighted to have secured his services for another three years," West Indies Cricket Board chief executive Michael Muirhead said yesterday.
"Most notably is that he led the implementation of a system of professionalism within the team unit and curbed the negative results which we were experiencing with some frequency.

"There have also been clear successes under his stewardship from 2010 to date. These include, most notably, having coached the team to the World Twenty20 title, the team showing consistent improvements in the other formats, the reintegration of players into the team unit and the achievement of the set goals as outlined in the WICB Strategic Plan 2011 - 2016." Muirhead added that whilst Gibson's tenure had not been without its problems they were part and parcel of the job.

"While there have also been some challenges along the way, these are not to be unexpected in such a dynamic and high pressure environment and the WICB looks forward to the continued development of the West Indies team through this next critical phase under Ottis' stewardship at the elite team level," Muirhead said.

Gibson, a pace bowler who played two Tests and 15 one-day internationals, said he was delighted to have been signed up for a new term.

"There is a lot to do and things to look forward to. There is the Champions Trophy in England this year, we will be defending the World T20 title in Bangladesh next year and there is the World Cup in 2015.

"These are things we have talked about and these are things the selectors have been planning for," added Gibson.