PARAMARIBO, Suriname (CMC) — West Indians are being encouraged to apply for the vacant position of head coach of the West Indies Cricket team, Chief Executive Officer of the West Indies Cricket Board Michael Muirhead has announced.

However, Muirhead revealed that the WICB has begun a global search to find a replacement for Ottis Gibson, who ended his tenure as head coach of the regional side this week before the contract expired in 2016.

Media reports in Trinidad and Tobago are suggesting that Gibson’s replacement is likely to be the former South Africa and Australia coach Mickey Arthur, who recently finished his duties with the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League.

“We would talk to everybody. We are going on a worldwide hunt. We would like to put it out there,” said Muirhead in an exclusive interview with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“We always would encourage West Indians but we have to evaluate them and put out our criteria. We would encourage West Indians. I can’t put a timetable until we see what the pool of coaches is.”

A WICB statement earlier this week said Gibson and WICB ‘mutually agreed’ to terminate their association with immediate effect.

Team manager Sir Richie Richardson has been asked to take charge of the team on an interim basis for the series against Bangladesh, which started in Grenada on Wednesday with victory for West Indies.

“We are quite capable of functioning so as to carry the team through the Bangladesh series,” said Muirhead, speaking to CMC in Suriname while attending the 46th meeting of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU).

“Ritchie has the experience to keep players together. He is someone to maintain the cohesiveness.”

Gibson and WICB Cricket operations director Richard Pybus did not see eye to eye during a meeting which discussed a string of poor performances from the regional side, the Trinidad Guardian reported.

WICB directors, who held a teleconference last weekend and were informed of the views of both Pybus and Gibson, decided to terminate Gibson’s services, the Guardian also reported.

“At some point we needed to re-evaluate our position. We did and he did. This was the point where we re-evaluated,” Muirhead told CMC.

“It was not a situation where we woke up and said time to go. It is a process. It evolved. It was not a single event that precipitated this. We have a director, Mr Pybus, I am accountable to a board.”

West Indies have shown improvements under Gibson by winning the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, but the poor performances that have followed including losing the recent series in the Caribbean to New Zealand have triggered calls in many quarters for him to be sacked.

“From our side having offered his resignation we accepted,” said the CEO.

“It is no secret the team has not performed. He did take us to the T20. But we have a goal to be the number one side in the world.”