The England Cricket Board have confirmed that Ottis Gibson will be the new head coach of the Proteas.
The inevitable has happened – Gibson’s appointment has been confirmed. The news officially confirms the end of Russell Domingo’s four-year era, and paves the way for the former West Indies coach and outgoing England bowling coach.
The panel tasked with providing a recommendation to the CSA board – including the likes of Gary Kirsten and Eric Simons – forwarded the 48-year-old as their choice on 25 July. This was only confirmed by Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis on 10 August, leaving an agonising three-week wait as to who CSA had decided to go with, with a contract extension for Domingo not out of the equation.
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Gibson’s contract with England was supposed to run until the end of 2018, but according to various sources in the week after Du Plessis revealed the recommendation, CSA and the England Cricket Board agreed a compensation fee, with contract agreement the only outstanding issue.
Gibson will stay with England until the end of the third Test against the West Indies on 11 September, but is expected to get straight to work with the Proteas, with their first Test against Bangladesh starting on 28 September.
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Speaking on the departure of Gibson, director of England Cricket, Andrew Strauss, said: ‘I would like to place on record my thanks to Ottis Gibson for his services to English cricket. Ottis has been an integral part of the England team in his two stints as bowling coach. His experience, tactical awareness and understanding of bowling in all conditions has benefited our approach and has helped our bowling unit develop greatly across all formats of the game.
‘He is an ambitious man, and when this opportunity presented itself it was difficult for him to turn down. On behalf of the ECB, I would like to wish him every success in the next chapter of his career.’
