Reports: Ottis Gibson emerges as prime candidate to take over as England's Test head coach

In the latest development, former West Indian fast bowler and veteran coach Ottis Gibson has emerged as the leading candidate to take over as England's men's team head coach.

According to reports in the English media, Silverwood is likely to take over as the coach of the Test team as newly appointed managing director Robert Key aims to split the coaching job of the red and white-ball outfits.

The development comes as a surprise considering the fact that Gibson had signed a three-year contract with Yorkshire earlier this year.

Gibson, of course, has immense experience in coaching at the international level. He has already served as the head coach of South Africa and the West Indies men's cricket teams in the last few years.

Besides this, Gibson was a part of the Bangladeshi set-up as a fast bowling coach until earlier this year. The Barbadian has also served as fast bowling coach of the English cricket team in two separate stints.

He earned huge praise from England cricketers during his second stint between 2015-17. However, Ben Stokes and other senior players were said to be disappointed when Gibson wasn't appointed the successor of Trevor Bayliss in 2019.

Instead, the ECB appointed Chris Silverwood in the said position in early 2020 before giving the former pacer an additional charge of selecting the squad.

As it turned out, Silverwood was sacked following 11 defeats in 17 games during the 2021/22 season.

In addition to this, the legendary Sri Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara and two-time World Cup-winning skipper Ricky Ponting are the prime contenders to take over the coaching position of the white-ball team.

It won't be easy to acquire Ponting for the role as the Australian has publicly mentioned that he does not intend to take up coaching an international team as it would mean significant time away from his family.

And, just like Ponting, who is coaching the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, Mahela and Sangakkara derive most of their coaching earnings from the cash-rich league. But, Key is confident that he'll be able to persuade one of them as the IPL doesn't coincide with the English season.

Key has enough time to make the appointments as their still time for the international summer. The summer will start with a Test series against New Zealand in early June.