Gibson not ruling out England job

Ottis Gibson has declined to reject the suggestion that he is interested in the role of head coach of the England side. Gibson, who is currently head coach of West Indies, is known to have expressed an interest in other coaching roles of late and is highly thought of at the ECB having worked as the England bowling coach before returning to the Caribbean in 2010.

Asked whether his "name was in the hat" for the England job, Gibson replied, somewhat enigmatically, "My name is firmly in the hat for this job I'm doing."

While Gibson went on to insist he was "fully committed" to his current role and "improving the fortunes of West Indies cricket," his failure to categorically rule out any interest in the England job will do little to douse speculation over his possible candidacy.

Gibson has experienced a roller-coaster ride as West Indies coach. Among the high-points, he oversaw the side's victory in the World T20 of 2012 and signed a new three-year contract only 12 months ago.

But at other times, he has suffered public fallouts with such high-profile figures as Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan and endured criticism from various politicians, even prime ministers, in the Caribbean. West Indies have also won only one of their last six T20 internationals, including defeat against Ireland in Jamaica a week ago, and have lost four of their last five Tests, three of them inside three days.

Gibson's apparent wandering eye - he was also linked with coaching jobs at Warwickshire and Glamorgan - suggests he may be tiring of the ups and downs apparently inherent in West Indies cricket.

"When you're not working then every job appeals to you," Gibson said. "But at the moment I'm working and working hard so that is all I'm looking at right now."

Gibson admitted that West Indies "haven't played well in this format over the last six or twelve months" ahead of the ODI series against England.

"Both sides haven't set the world on fire recently in this format," he said. "So, England will be thinking that it is a good time to play us. We're at home so hopefully that will count for something but we're two teams that maybe you could say are in transition."

Gibson was, at least, optimistic that Chris Gayle would be fit to return to the side for the World T20 in Bangladesh, but had less positive news over the involvement of Kieron Pollard or Kemar Roach,

"From all reports I've heard Chris should be back," Gibson said. "He had some time out with a hamstring injury and he had a good two months to get himself right. He did some work in Australia with a physio.

"He was back here and played in the first T20 and looked good, but then he had a reaction in his back. When you work so hard on one thing then something else can give way so he had a reaction in his back and his hip so we've given him some more time to get himself comfortable on the cricket field.

"Pollard had a knee injury and he hasn't recovered from that. We've given him time but he just hasn't recovered. Kemar Roach had a shoulder operation in December and he's now on his way back, but neither of them will be ready for Bangladesh."