West Indies hope Gibson can bring about "gradual improvement"
Ottis Gibson has been appointed as the new head coach of West Indies after resigning from his post as England bowling coach.

The England and Wales Cricket board says it has granted Gibson's request to be released from his contract.

The 40-year-old represented West Indies at Test level but had been part of England's coaching team since 2007.

He will take charge of the West Indies for the home series against Zimbabwe, which begins at the end of the month.

West Indies Cricket Board chief executive Ernest Hilaire confirmed the move to a Caribbean radio station.

"He will be the head coach of the WICB, not just head coach of the senior team," Hilaire told CBC.

"He will have responsibility for coaching right across all of our representative cricket teams. This will give him an opportunity to stamp a particular style of coaching, a West Indies way, across all the teams.

"This is really important because by the time our players reach the senior team, they should be the finished article, and they really ought to be focusing mainly on their strategy, tactics, how they win games, and being able to execute."

Former fast bowler Gibson, who was born in Barbados, played two Tests and 15 one-day internationals for West Indies.

Give your reaction to Gibson's appointment
He ended his playing career with county side Durham in 2007 and was immediately appointed as a bowling consultant by England, which led to a full-time staff job with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Gibson had a crucial role last summer when England beat Australia to regain the Ashes, with James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff among those to pay tribute to his influence.

Last month, Radio Jamaica carried a report that he was set to succeed John Dyson, who was sacked as West Indies coach last August.

The following day the ECB denied that any deal had been agreed, but last weekend confirmed that Gibson had been given permission to hold talks with the WICB.

Gibson handed in his resignation on Monday and England coach Andy Flower said: "Ottis has been a valuable member of my management team and we will all be sorry to see him leave.

"However, we recognise that being offered the chance to be head coach of your country was an offer that would be hard for Ottis to resist. We wish him well in the future.'

Gibson told BBC 5 live: "Judging by what we did in the summer, winning the Ashes back, I think England are on the verge of doing something really special.

"It would have been nice to be a part of that but West Indies is in the blood and once they came calling and I couldn't say no."

We are not asking Ottis to turn around the West Indies fortunes and make them a winning team overnight

WICB chief Ernest Hilaire
Gibson now faces the task of trying to restore West Indies to their former glory after a troubled few years.

"The ability's still there, the talent's still there," he said. "There's been a lot of off-the-field stuff that has created unnecessary problems for the team.

"If we can get ourselves focused and have a period of stability, the team have showed, like in Australia just now, that we can put some good results together.

"There's some obvious talent there and that just needs to be found and nurtured. That's going to be the key role for me over the next couple of years."

Gibson will be assisted in his new job by David Williams, who is in charge of the West Indies team for their current tour to Australia.

And together, they will have the responsibility of trying to improve the team's performance.

West Indies are eighth in both the Test and one-day rankings and Hilaire acknowledged that Gibson had been handed a "long-term project".

He added: "We are not asking Ottis to turn around the West Indies fortunes and make them a winning team overnight. There has to be a gradual chain of development.

"He is a new era coach, and someone who has been exposed to all of the technologies and new approaches to coaching.

"We are hoping that he will bring to this task an understanding of West Indies cricket. He will have all requisite knowledge and skills."

England, meanwhile, must find a replacement for Gibson and England and Wales Cricket Board's managing director Hugh Morris said: "Now Ottis has confirmed his departure, Andy Flower and I will begin the process of identifying the right individual who can join the England set-up and build on the foundation laid by Ottis.'

Second Test, Durban:
South Africa 343 & 76-6 v England 575-9d (day four, stumps)
Play resumes Wednesday: 0730 GMT
Coverage: Listen to Test Match Special on BBC Radio Four Longwave, Radio 5 live sports extra, the Red Button and BBC Sport website; text commentary online and on mobile phones. Also live on Sky Sports
Match scorecard


England will need to take just four wickets on the final day in Durban to win the second Test and seal a first victory in the city since 1964.

A remarkable wicket-taking burst from Graeme Swann (3-22) and Stuart Broad (3-18), which saw four wickets fall for seven runs, left South Africa 76-6.

They were still 156 runs behind when bad light and rain ended play early.

England had earlier declared on 575-9, 232 ahead, with Ian Bell making 141 from 227 balls and Matt Prior 60.

As South Africa then reached a fairly comfortable 27-0 from their first nine overs in their second innings on a wicket with a reputation for going flat, the draw looked the likeliest result by a long way.

606: DEBATE
It brings a wry smile to every Englishman's face when the cameras focus in on Mickey Arthur as the precession of SA wickets continues! Hilarious.

ViewFromTheKop
But Swann removed Ashwell Prince with his second ball, thanks to a sharp catch from Bell at silly point, and clean bowled Hashim Amla on the stroke of tea.

Jacques Kallis, so often the bane of English supporters, suffered a temporary aberration as he chose to leave a Broad inswinger which ripped out his off-stump.

AB de Villiers, who watched that dismissal from the pavilion, failed to learn the lesson. He padded up to another Broad delivery, England pleaded for lbw and umpire Amiesh Saheba upheld the appeal.

A referral failed to save De Villiers' bacon as replays showed the ball bending back to clip the top corner of off-stump.

A hurried chat between skipper Graeme Smith and the incoming batsman JP Duminy failed to stop the momentum. Duminy tentatively prodded at a ball he could have left and the inside edge crashed into his stumps to give Broad two wickets in two balls. The hat-trick ball was a good one, but Mark Boucher defended it safely.


Swann has had a brilliant 12 months for England in Test cricket
Smith perilously avoided running himself out for the second time in the match as England continued to crank up the pressure, but was the next to go when Swann arrowed one past his bat and into his pads. South Africa's skipper used up his final referral, but it was a futile gesture as Swann won his fourth lbw appeal in the match.

In the circumstances, Boucher and Morne Morkel did well to survive a further 11 overs of Broad, Swann and James Anderson - the only blemish coming when Prior dropped Morkel off Swann in the final over of the day.

Thick cloud cover was in place when England resumed their innings on Tuesday morning with the scoreboard showing 386-5. Bell was on 55 and Prior 11.

The two compact right-handers were completely untroubled by the South African bowlers and confidently played their shots.

Prior moved into top gear against the occasional spin of Duminy, launching him for a four and a slightly fortuitous six in an over which saw England's wicketkeeper reach his half-century.

Duminy had his revenge when Prior chopped onto his stumps, but the two batsmen had by then added 112, putting defeat out of the equation for England.


Ian Bell's ninth Test century put the seal on a fine batting performance
Bell, whose place has been under intense scrutiny, reached his ninth Test century and first since July 2008 with a lofted on-drive for four off Paul Harris, but the run-up to lunch was otherwise a dull passage of play, with neither Bell nor Broad showing much adventure.

Thankfully, that all changed after lunch as Broad muscled Harris onto the grass banks for six in an over costing 15, before edging Duminy to slip.

Swann wasted no time playing himself in, pulling Makhaya Ntini for a huge six in making 22 from 14 balls, and Bell added two post-lunch boundaries before finally chasing a wide one from Dale Steyn. The declaration followed 10 balls later.

Wednesday, which should provide at least two full sessions of clear weather should they be needed, is likely to see Centurion man of the match Swann take centre stage once again.

It has been quite a 12 months for the Nottinghamshire man, who on Tuesday became the first English spinner to take 50 wickets in a calendar year.

Paul Collingwood, meanwhile, dislocated a finger in the warm-up on Tuesday and is unlikely to play any further part in the match. However an X-ray has confirmed there is no fracture and he may be available for the third Test in Cape Town from 3 January.

Anderson produced his best figures in one-day internationals
England match-winner James Anderson said his career-best haul of 5-23 in the fourth one-day international in South Africa was not his best bowling.

The 27-year-old Lancastrian captured a maiden five-wicket haul in his 120th international to put England 2-1 up with only one game remaining on Friday.

But he said: "I think I've bowled better and got less rewards.

"I bowled a few wicket-taking balls and catches went to hand but it was more the pressure we built up as a unit."

Anderson was also full of praise for his seam bowling colleagues as England dismissed the hosts for 119 in Port Elizabeth.

"Tim Bresnan's spell was fantastic from the bottom end and Stuart [Broad] got an early breakthrough as well which was a huge help.

"It was nice to get a wicket that was a little bit conducive to seam bowling - and thankfully I made the most of it."

Skipper Andrew Strauss was delighted for England's man of the match Anderson as his side rallied admirably from a seven-wicket reverse last Friday.

"We had a good chat about what went wrong in Cape Town," said Strauss.

"James Anderson was outstanding, creating pressure and bowling wicket-taking deliveries."

Bresnan (1-15), Broad (2-30) and Paul Collingwood (2-20) provided admirable support.

"It was a brilliant day for the bowling unit as a whole," the captain said.

"We wanted to clarify our plans against their batsmen and I think we got that pretty much spot on.

"The key was to start well and it was a good toss to lose if I'm honest. But I was pleased with how the bowlers reacted to the conditions.

606: DEBATE
A superb performance from Jimmy Anderson and the England bowling unit as a whole on a normal pitch - which looked flat enough before the toss for Smith to bat on

jonnyb192
"You have got to adapt quickly and make sure that if there's anything in your favour then you use it. I think we did that."

Anderson, who removed Hashim Amla and JP Duminy in his first six overs before returning for a devastating second spell, said: "We had a chat after the last game because we didn't bowl as well as we could have done.

"We wanted to come here and bowl a lot better, and luckily we got a wicket that helped us with our plans."

South African skipper Graeme Smith, who fell in the second over to Broad, said his team had failed to adjust to the wicket.

"I'm generally very disappointed. We didn't assess the wicket and bled throughout the innings," said Smith.

"Jimmy Anderson came back and bowled a very good second spell, but if we had posted 220 or 240 that would have been a good target to defend.

"We have got a lot of young guys who need to learn how to make key decisions in the course of the innings and they just didn't do it.

"They're not all guys with 80 or 100 matches, it's more like three, four or five. They need to learn to analyse conditions."

The one man he exempted from blame was Alviro Petersen, who hit a third successive half century of the series to finish last man out for 51.

"Nobody else put in the hard yards with the bat," bemoaned Smith.

Tahir and Chopra are Warwickshire's first signings of the winter
Warwickshire have stepped up their preparations for next season by signing Pakistani leg-spinner Imran Tahir and Essex opening batsman Varun Chopra.

Tahir, 30, who has 382 first-class wickets, will be the Bears' overseas player for 2010.

Chopra, 22, a former captain of the England Under-19 side, has signed a three-year deal at Edgbaston after leaving his home county.

He played 48 first-class and 34 one-day games for Essex.

Tahir claimed 96 first-class wickets for Hampshire during two seasons at The Rose Bowl - 44 of those coming in just seven matches in 2008 as he helped them avoid relegation.

He has also had spells with Middlesex and Yorkshire.

Warwickshire director of cricket Ashley Giles said: "Imran brings with him knowledge and experience that will add much to our young developing squad.

"Varun is a skilled young batsman with scope to develop further and we are delighted that he has chosen to commit his future to Warwickshire."

Chopra said: "The combination of joining one of the country's biggest clubs, playing at a Test match ground and working with Ashley Giles was too good an offer to refuse."