Ottis Gibson ... the one who got away

Ottis Gibson oversees an England training session © Getty Images

But for the difference of a few days, Ottis Gibson might well now be in Barbados, overseeing the preparation of the West Indies team for the forthcoming tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa as head coach. Instead, the widely travelled former Barbados and West Indies allrounder leaves South Africa on Monday for the Test series in Sri Lanka as the officially appointed bowling coach to the England team.

Gibson has been in South Africa for the past two weeks on his first assignment since the confirmation of his full-time contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board. It is a one-on-one project with Steve Harmison aimed at getting England's leading fast bowler, literally out of action since July with injury, technically and physically ready for the three Tests in Sri Lanka.

As Gibson explained it during a net session at the Wanderers Stadium, England got in with their proposition days before he was to make a presentation to the West Indies Cricket Board in support of his application for the head coach vacancy.

He first forwarded his interest and his CV to WICB cricket operations officer Tony Howard back in June and was subsequently asked to make a formal presentation on October 19. By then, following South African Allan Donald's departure, he had been assigned to the England job on a temporary basis for the separate tours of Sri Lanka, for five ODIs in early October and for the forthcoming three Tests.

"Things went very well in the ODI series in Sri Lanka which England won for the first time," Gibson said. "I'd worked with the head coach Peter Moores before so he knew what I am capable of doing. He told me he wanted me to stay on."

Acquainted with his well-publicised interest in the West Indies job, the ECB moved quickly and submitted a permanent contract on his return from Sri Lanka. "The decision was whether to take it or wait for something else," Gibson stated.

By the time he went back to Barbados, with his young son, for a week's holiday following the initial Sri Lankan trip, his mind was made up. There was no longer any point in pursuing the presentation to the WICB which ultimately named Australian John Dyson as head coach.

"The England offer was what was on the table and I accepted within a day of it being put," Gibson added. "I got back in touch with Howard and told him what was happening from the England side and that was that," he explained. "They [WICB] didn't indicate whether they wanted me for the job or anything like that, just that it was my decision to make."

While he was "absolutely delighted" to be with an England team that is "on the up", with several promising young fast bowlers to work with, Gibson was convinced that there was still enough talent in the West Indies for him to have had a go at lifting them out of their lengthy decline.

"When I was in Barbados, a lot of my friends told me I had done the right thing to take the England job, given the state of West Indies cricket," he said. "I made my decision but I wouldn't have put in for the West Indies in the first place if I didn't believe that, with the right people around me, I could make a difference."

Gibson, looking as lithe and athletic as a 38-year-old has any right to, enjoyed a dream all-round season with Durham in the County Championship. He earned the prestigious Professional Cricketers' Association Player-of-the-Year award on the votes of the players, and was beseeched by Durham to stay one last season.

But he has no qualms about moving into coaching. "Durham's success [winning the one-day title and finishing second in the Championship] and my own made you feel that you could go on for another year but you had to be realistic," he said.

In spite of his record - ten wickets in an innings against Hampshire, 80 wickets at an average of 20.85 overall, mostly from swing bowling in the high 80mph range, and 576 hard-hitting runs at 27.52-Gibson said he had to appreciate he was 38 and "not getting any younger".

Durham was the last of his many stops as player. Apart from two Tests, 15 ODIs and two A-team tours with the West Indies, he also represented Barbados, Border Gruiqualand West and Gauteng in South Africa and Glamorgan and Leicestershire prior to his two seasons with Durham.

"The truth is that an opportunity like this, to be involved with an international team, might not come around again and I've always wanted to go out and prove myself as a coach," he noted. A few days later and he might well have had the chance with the West Indies.