A bowler capable of genuine pace, the athletic Ottis Gibson was also an intelligent bowler with the old ball for West Indies. But he became seen, possibly unfairly, as a one-day specialist - his hard-hitting late middle-order batting was particularly effective in the closing overs of the innings. He toured England in 1995, playing in the Lord's Test, and won a second cap when drafted into the West Indies side as emergency cover during their ill-fated tour of South Africa in 1998-99. His nomadic career took him to Glamorgan, Staffordshire, and three South African provincial sides. Frustrated by niggling injuries, he took up coaching and found work with the ECB before returning to the game with Leicestershire in 2004. He added one final side to his CV when he moved to Durham in 2006 to enjoy one of his most successful seasons, and his career-best 155 in the final match of the summer helped keep his team in the top flight. In 2007 he became the 79th player to take all ten wickets in an innings when he skittled Hampshire for 115 to take 10 for 47 in 17.3 overs. He finished the season with a record number of wickets in any season for Durham and was instrumental in their two trophies and was unsurprisingly named Most Valuable Player and Player of the Year at the PCA Awards that September. He also expressed an interest in moving into coaching and was named as England's bowling coach for the tour of Sri Lanka that autumn. He spent more than two years with England before giving up the job to become the West Indies coach in January 2010.
Martin Williamson