Ranking top 10 controversial coaches in cricket history

9. Ottis Gibson

Ottis Gibson has been a very popular name in the international coaching set up and has got associated with many international teams in the past. For teams like Bangladesh and England, Gibson had served as a bowling coach along with coaching the WI team from 2010 to 2014. However while serving South African cricket from 2017 to 2019, Gibson as a head coach was controversially criticized for his remarks against the retirement of AB de Villiers during the 2019 World Cup.

While in a chat with skipper Faf Du Plessis, AB de Villiers had offered to come out of his retirement only if the Proteas needed him to play the 2019 World Cup, the national selectors along with Ottis Gibson did take a huge dig at ABD by viciously discarding his demands. Specifically, Gibson in a statement had said that “if he wanted to be available for the World Cup, then he would have to make himself available for the home series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, “and he didn’t.” 

Further, he added that “The door was open till December and after that to come into the piece … he knew that if he really wanted to, he knew that those ten games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka were vitally important for us, since from March to World Cup we won’t have any more cricket. He knew that, and again, he has made his choice.”

However, with SA then enduring a horrifying campaign in the 2019 World Cup, ABD had eventually issued a statement where he clarified that “I made absolutely no demands at all. I certainly did not try to force my way into the World Cup squad on the eve of the tournament and did not expect to be included. There was no burning issue from my side and no sense of injustice,”

Perhaps when the Proteas head coach had also made some adverse remarks regarding their earlier conversation during ABD’s retirement in May 2018, De Villiers in his same tweet gave a response that “I was unfairly described as arrogant, selfish and indecisive but, with all humility, my conscience is clear. I retired for honest reasons and, when asked if I could be available for the World Cup, agreed to keep the door open. In the event, understandably, the team moved on. No problem. I am not angry with anybody.”