Former Australia cricket captain and coach Bob Simpson has died in Sydney. He was 89.
An influential figure in Australian cricket for more than four decades as a player, captain and coach, he also made his mark on the game as a lawmaker, match referee and commentator.
A pivotal figure in the dressing room during Australia’s rise to the peak of world cricket throughout the 1990s, Simpson’s legacy lasted long after he stepped away from the head coach role in 1996.
A leg-spinning all-rounder turned gritty opening batter and an excellent slips fielder, Simpson played 62 Tests between 1957 and 1978, scoring 4,869 runs at an average
of 46.81, having made his debut on a tour of South Africa in 1957.
His opening partnerships with Bill Lawry set a world record for the time as the pair averaged more than 60, putting on 3596 runs together in 62 Test innings.
The first of his 10 centuries didn’t come until his 30th Test, but he made it count, hitting a career-high 311 against England at Old Trafford in 1964 in a record-setting year.
During World Series Cricket, Simpson came out of retirement to again captain Australia in 1977-78, aged 41, adding two more centuries against India and leading the team on a Caribbean tour.
In all, he captained in 39 Tests, initially taking over from Richie Benaud and leading the team for the first time at the MCG on New Year’s Day, 1964, against South Africa.
Simpson became the first full-time head coach of the Australian side in 1986, inheriting a side captained by Allan Border that was at a low ebb, in the middle of a winless run that stretched to three years.
With Border, he instilled a competitive edge into a promising crop of young players, including the likes of Steve Waugh, David Boon, Dean Jones and Craig McDermott. The partnership helped them win the 1987 World Cup as rank outsiders, defeating England in the final at Eden Gardens.
He stressed on discipline at training, batting technique and improving effort on the field which turned Australia’s fortunes dramatically.
“He was the sergeant major — a disciplinarian. He worked our backsides off and it paid dividends.,” Border wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“...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’.”
Simpson also served as consultant during India’s 1999 World Cup campaign in the UK. “RIP Bob Simpson.. our memories of 1999 World Cup and my stint with you in Lancashire will always be in my heart and memories. A gentleman to the core,” Sourav Ganguly wrote on X.
He was the only cricketer who was involved in both the tied Test matches — first as a player in 1960 against the West Indies in Brisbane and then as Australia’s coach in Madras in 1986.
He led in his only Test at the Eden on their 1964 tour, which ended in a draw. Besides scoring 67 and 71, he took 4/45 in 28 overs in the first innings.