Sports Desk
16 August 2025, 10:14 AM IST
Simpson became Australia’s first full-time coach in the 1980s, leading the team’s re-emergence and overseeing several top players, including Shane Warne.
Australian cricketer Shane Warne, left, talks with former Australian coach Bob Simpson at The North Sydney Oval, in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 25, 1997 | AP
Sydney: Former Australian cricket captain and coach Bob Simpson passed away at the age of 89 on Saturday.
Cricket Australia confirmed his death in Sydney in a statement on Saturday.
Simpson, an accomplished all-rounder, played 62 Tests and captained Australia in 39, scoring at an average of 46.81. He made his debut tour in 1957 and became regarded as one of the country’s finest all-rounders.
It took until his 30th Test to score a maiden century, but he did so in style — a marathon 311 at Old Trafford in 1964.
He retired after the 1967 series but returned a decade later, at 41, during the World Series Cricket era.
Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird said Simpson 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 generation for Australian cricket,” Baird said in a statement.
Simpson became Australia’s first full-time coach in the 1980s, leading the team’s re-emergence and overseeing several top players, including Shane Warne.
Simpson was inducted in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.
He achieved 21,029 runs at an average of 56.22 in first-class cricket, hit 60 centuries and took 349 wickets at an average of 38.07, according to the Sports Australia Hall of Fame. AFP
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