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Proteas national coach Ottis Gibson aims at taking his side to the top of team rankings in the longest format of the game.

“The same way that players set goals, coaches also set goals. The goal for the Test team is to try to get to No 1,” Gibson said.

Gibson’s journey as the South African began with series victories against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. They also won the Test series against India and Australia respectively.

However, a 3-0 Test series victory against India would have helped them go up the ladder.

“To win these two series, especially this one with all the other noise that has been going on, is quite rewarding,’ he said, referring to the controversies that surrounded the Australia tour.

Australia captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were sent home and banned for their roles in ball tampering during the third Test.

“It has been quite an experience, we have won eight out of 10 Test matches, and we won two big series, playing against two of the toughest teams,’ said Gibson. ‘Our goal was to be the first South African team since readmission to win a series against Australia at home,’ he maintained.

Ottis Gibson, Australia, South Africa, Ball-tampering, Steven Smith, Cameron Bancroft — Ottis Gibson also enjoyed his stint with the English team. Photo Credit: Getty Images.

“That was our focus in every game. When we lost in Durban, we didn’t play our best cricket, but in every game, we got better as we went on and we have seen some fantastic performances from young players like Aiden Markram leading the batting and Kagiso Rabada leading the bowling,” Gibson stated.

Focusing on the one-day game ahead of the World Cup next year, after a 5-1 loss to India, Ottis Gibson reflected:

‘The result of the one-day series wasn’t great but I didn’t mind it. I know that the cricket fans who come to watch want the team to win, but from my point of view I got to see a lot of players we wouldn’t have seen if there weren’t so many injuries.”