While former Australian captain Bob Simpson, who died on Saturday at the age of 89, captained Australia during his 62 Tests International career, the Australian great also had a decade-long coaching stint with the Australian team from 1986 to 1996. The coach would see the likes of youngsters Steve Waugh, David Boon and Shane Warne rising in international cricket under him. Former Australian captain Mark Taylor recalled one incident when a young Shane Warne’s bat hit Simpson’s knee and Warne’s reaction towards the disciplinarian coach. The incident happened in the 1993 Ashes series during the Old Trafford Test, and Warne had stormed into the dressing room angry over his dismissal. With him throwing his bat and the bat hitting the kit bag and bouncing off, the bat hit Simpson’s knee, and Taylor remembered what followed after.
“The look on Warnie’s face. If he could’ve crawled into a hole and covered himself forever and ever, he would have. Simmo (Bob Simpson) went at him. The rest of us didn’t say anything. At the time, he was serious but 30 seconds later we were laughing. There’d be very few people who could say they’ve contributed more to Australian cricket than Bob Simpson,” former captain Mark Taylor told Sydney Morning Herald.
Former Australian opener and match referee, David Boon, too had played a major part of his Test career under Simpson. Boon, who had made his debut against West Indies in 1984, had hit his eighth Test hundred during the only Test against New Zealand at Perth in 1989 and got dismissed at 200, his first Test double hundred. 64-year-old Boon recalled how Simpson would not be happy with him getting out after a double hundred and how the coach was challenging him to be better. “I had my head down, I felt his presence, he was standing in front of me, he ticked me off for getting out. I thought I’d just made 200, it was him challenging me to be better. Move forward when you’re in that position; it was one of his challenges. We worked so hard. Without him, I don’t think I could’ve produced as a bat pad,” Boon told Newscorp.
Simpson was also inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and joined the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2006. Cricket Australia termed Simpson’s loss as a sad day for cricket. “Bob Simpson was one of the greats of Australian cricket and this is a sad day for anyone fortunate to have watched him play or who benefited from his wisdom. As a brilliant opening batter, incredible slips fielder and handy spin bowler, Bob was a mainstay of a very strong Australian team in the 1960s, and he became a leader across the game as Australian and New South Wales captain and as a coach. Bob’s decision to come out of retirement to successfully lead the Australian team during the advent of World Series Cricket in 1977 was a wonderful service to the game, and his coaching set the foundation for a golden era for Australian cricket. On behalf of Cricket Australia, I would like to express my warmest condolences to Bob’s family, friends, teammates and all those touched by his vast contribution to cricket,” Cricket Australia chairman, Mike Baird, said in a statement.
