While former Australian Test cricketer Bob Simpson, who died in Sydney on Saturday at the age of 89, had a successful Test career with 4,689 runs and 71 wickets, the all-rounder was also known as one of the best Australian coaches. Under Simpson, the Australian team won four consecutive Ashes series between 1989 and 1995 and had also ended West Indies’ 15-year unbeaten run in Test cricket in their backyard in 1995. Former Australian captain Allan Border recalled his time under Simpson and hailed his contribution to Australian and world cricket.
“I wouldn’t say we were a rabble, but we could’ve been doing things a bit better. I suppose in the wake of retirements, World Series Cricket, the aftermath of that, guys going to South Africa, it affected our national team – and you’re not allowed to be a bad national cricket team. It was perfect timing for me personally as the captain. I was all things to the team for a year or two – maybe not in my character to be like that. He was the sergeant major – a disciplinarian. He worked our backsides off and it paid dividends.,” Border told Sydney Morning Herald.
Born in Sydney in 1936, Simpson would make his Test debut against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1959. Simpson played 257 first-class matches combined for New South Wales and Western Australia, scoring 21,029 runs at an average of 38.07 with 60 centuries and 100 half-centuries and 349 wickets at an average of 38.07 with his leg-spin. Simpson, who had scored his first Test hundred worth a knock of 311 against England at Old Trafford in 1964, also captained Australia in 39 Tests and had first captained Australia in 1964. He would later come out of his test retirement again in 1977-78 and would score two centuries against India and lead the team against the West Indies. He was appointed Australia coach in 1986, and Border also recalled how Simpson was a strict disciplinarian. “He was Inspector Clouseau, the scariest three words in cricket at the time after the team meeting, Simmo (Bob Simpson)would pipe up with, ‘you’re with me’. You got a hammering in the fielding drills because he knew you’d been out. It wasn’t like a strictly enforced curfew but he took it upon himself to let you know that he knew you were out later than you should have been. He had this simple mantra, “up to midnight is your time, after midnight is cricket time,” Border further wrote in Sydney Morning Herald.
Former Australian captain Steve Waugh, who too would play under Simpson as coach, recalled his time with Simpson. “No one gave more to Australian cricket than Bob Simpson – coach, player, commentator, writer, selector, mentor and journalist. He was quite simply the best cricket coach with an unparalleled knowledge of the game together with an insatiable appetite for learning and imparting his wisdom. He made me a better player and he made Australian cricket great. RIP Simmo.” Waugh wrote on Instagram.
During his playing career, Simpson would add 3596 runs in 62 Test innings with his opening partner Bill Lawry. The pair averaged more than 60 for the opening wicket partnership. Lawry too remembered his memories of Simpson and how the pair lived in different worlds. “Bobby was out there on the golf course, I was looking for pigeons. We didn’t spend time off the field. It’s a good thing. If you want to bat all day with someone, you won’t want to see them at night. We lived in different worlds. Once you walked to the field and Bob Simpson was involved you knew it would be good,” Lawry told Sydney Morning Herald.
