Gibson parts ways with BCB

Former West Indies pacer Ottis Gibson, who had been working as the fast bowling coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team, will not be renewing his contract, a Bangladesh Cricket Board official said on Thursday.

Jalal Yunus, BCB’s Cricket Operations Committee Chairman, told the reporters that Gibson will not renew his contract, set to end on January 20, 2022.

“Yes, his contract with us is expiring this month. He said that he does not want to carry on with us anymore,” Jalal told the media in Sylhet, where the Independence Cup is taking place.

Gibson was appointed as the fast bowling coach after Charl Langeveldt left Bangladesh to take up the same role for the South Africa national team.

The West Indian, who worked as the head coach of West Indies and South Africa, and the bowling coach of England, will join the Pakistan Super League team Multan Sultans as their fast bowling coach.

The verified Facebook page of the PSL franchise Multan Sultans wrote, “WorldT20 winning Head Coach with the West Indies, as well as the former Head Coach of South Africa, with successful stints in the past as the Fast Bowling Coach of England & Bangladesh, Ottis Gibson joins the #Sultans as our Assistant and Fast Bowling Coach.”

Gibson will be the second coach to leave the Bangladesh team after the 2021 T20 World Cup. Earlier, fielding coach Ryan Cook had also left as both he and BCB were not interested to carry on.

But BCB was very hopeful about Gibson, especially how he nurtured Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain and Abu Jayed Chowdhury to form the pace attack for Bangladesh, especially in Test matches.

Russel Domingo’s position was also a bit shaky after the debacle in the T20 World Cup, but Jalal hinted that the board has no other choice but to go with him.

“You all know that we don’t have any other alternative as head coach. We are bringing in Jamie Siddons as the batting consultant, he will join us from the start of February,” said the Cricket Operations Chairman.