Yorkshire appoint Ottis Gibson as new head coach on three-year deal

Ottis has worked with England before.

Ottis Gibson, a former West Indies all-rounder, is the new head coach of Yorkshire.

The former West Indies and South Africa head coach will be reporting to the interim managing director.

"I'm very excited and honoured to be given the opportunity," said the man.

The ex-England and Bangladesh bowling coach said he was looking forward to working with the talented group of players to take the club forward.

I'm excited to be a part of the future of the club and I've spoken to Goughy about it.

The performance and management of the first team will be under the leadership of Gibson, who will be supported by two assistant coaches.

The former Durham, Glamorgan and Leicestershire player will join Yorkshire once his contract with the Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League ends next month.

"Ottis becoming head coach is an important moment for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, and we are very happy he has become part of the team," said interim managing director, Stephen Gough.

One of the best coaches in the world will be joining us. As we move into pre-season and get ourselves up and running, his knowledge, commitment, experience and cricket knowhow will be vital.

"We were blown away by the level of interest and quality of candidates for this role, but I have no doubt that he's the best person for the job and will pick up the challenge with relish."

O'Reilly has had a distinguished career performing at the highest level, and he has had a playing and coaching credentials that speak for themselves.

His character and commitment to buying into the process that we are going through at Yorkshire County Cricket Club shone through in our discussions.

He is someone I know will encourage dialogue and help foster a culture of inclusion at the club, as well as supporting and developing the world-class talent we have here and pushing them to the next level.

The West Indies team that won the 2012 T20 World Cup was led by the man who played two Test matches and 15 one-day internationals.

He scored 8,552 runs during his career and took 1,024 wickets.

The racism scandal led to 16 people leaving Yorkshire.

Rafiq, who played for Yorkshire between 2008 and 2018, was found to have been a victim of racial harassment.

Rafiq was born in Pakistan and moved to England when he was 10 years old, and he captained England teams at youth level and led Yorkshire in 2012

Rafiq told Wisden in September 2020 that he was close to taking his own life because of the racism at the club.

He told the radio station that a team-mate used a racially offensive term to refer to him.

Rafiq said last week that Yorkshire should be allowed to host England games again.