Ottis Gibson ‘snubs’ England approach as Yorkshire left ‘unimpressed’ by ECB

04/21/2022

Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson has reportedly 'ruled himself out of the reckoning' to coach England 's Test team.

It was previously claimed that Gibson was one of the 'favoured candidates' for the job, having worked as England's bowling coach across two stints between 2007 and 2010 and then 2015 and 2017. Now, according to a report from the Cricketer, the 53-year-old has snubbed an approach from England.

The report states that Gibson 'was approached by Andrew Strauss with a view to discussing the opportunities'. However, he is said to have told Strauss that he was not interested, having only been appointed Yorkshire head coach back in January.

It is claimed the approach came as a 'shock' to Yorkshire, who have been left 'unimpressed'. with Gibson only starting weeks ago. The involvement of Strauss is also surprising, given Rob Key has now replaced him as the permanent Managing Director of England Men's Cricket and he is the man tasked with appointing Chris Silverwood's replacement.

Key has previously advocated for the head coach role to be split between red and white ball cricket, telling Sky Sports in February: "I would split the coaching. Not because it's a lot of work but because it's two very different teams at two different times.

"The [white-ball] team could do with a facilitator coach who can just keep delivering what they're doing but challenge them. The Test team needs a completely different style of coach – a driver of culture and environment."

Despite England's recent struggles in Test cricket, Key is relishing the opportunity to make an impact and has vowed to "help take English Men’s cricket to new heights across all formats". Following his appointment, he said: "It is an absolute honour to take up this role.

"The chance to have an impact and make a difference is an opportunity given to very few and I will give it everything I have to try shape the next great era of English Men's cricket. Although at this current moment it has been a challenging time in English cricket, I also think it's as exciting a time as I can remember.

"With two of our teams near or at the top of the world rankings and an undoubted amount of talent in our game, I hope to try and bring everyone along for the ride so we can all help take English Men's cricket to new heights across all formats."

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