{"id":71578,"date":"2025-08-16T01:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/71578\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T01:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:31:12","slug":"tributes-flow-for-australian-cricket-icon-bob-simpson-dead-at-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/71578\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes flow for Australian cricket icon Bob Simpson, dead at 89"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\"><a class=\"css-1lg16vp-StyledTextLink ezegcyi0\" data-link-type=\"article-inline\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/sport\/australian-cricket-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Australian cricket<\/a> legend Bob Simpson has died at the age of 89.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The highly respected Simpson was a former <a class=\"css-1lg16vp-StyledTextLink ezegcyi0\" data-link-type=\"article-inline\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/sport\/cricket\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Australian Test captain<\/a> and also a national cricket coach and selector.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">He is famous for making a comeback to Test cricket at the age of 41 when the game had been ripped apart by Kerry Packer\u2019s World Series cricket.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-178igh4-StyledParagraph e1s06mna1\">Know the news with the 7NEWS app: <a class=\"css-cvgehw-StyledContextualLink e1s06mna0\" href=\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/app?utm_source=7NEWS&amp;utm_medium=contextual-link-app&amp;utm_campaign=7news-app\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Download today <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/static\/media\/right-red-arrow.92bca5db.svg\" alt=\"Download today\" height=\"14\" width=\"20\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">After a decorated career as a right-handed batter, a leg-spinner and excellent fielder, Simpson became the first full-time coach Australia had ever had in the mid 1980s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Simpson was known for his strong opinions, strong work ethic, and ferocious determination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Born in Marrickville in New South Wales, he will be remembered as one of the most influential figures Australia has had, shaping the culture of the team, and setting it up for years of dominance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">He is also credited for persuading the legendary Shane Warne to bowl around the wicket.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/a1a4f32ce164e998e90671b8162fda7c1df467b0-161x229-x0y25w685h974.jpg\" alt=\"Cricket legend Bob Simpson has died at the age of 89. \" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"974\" width=\"685\"\/>Cricket legend Bob Simpson has died at the age of 89.  Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Tributes flowed after news of his death was made public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cBob Simpson and Allan Border picked Australian cricket up off its knees and began the long trek back to world dominance,\u201d one fan said on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cAn Australian sporting legend as a player and coach RIP Bob \ud83d\ude4f.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Newsreader Sandra Sully said: \u201c\u2018No-one gave more\u2019: Vale Australian cricket icon Bob Simpson.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Veteran sports reporter Stephen Quartermain said: \u201cVale Bob Simpson. An Australian cricket giant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Aussie soccer legend Mark Bosnich said: \u201cRIP Bob Simpson \u2026 the little bat you signed for my Father to give to me I carried everywhere\u2026 and meeting you in England was a real honour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Simpson made his Test debut in 1957 in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">He went on to appear in 62 Test matches across a whopping 21-year career, making 4869 runs with an impressive average of 46.81.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">He was Australia\u2019s 30th Test captain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">In 1985 Simpson was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">More to come &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian cricket legend Bob Simpson has died at the age of 89. The highly respected Simpson was a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,56117,740,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-71578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australian-cricket-team","11":"tag-cricket","12":"tag-sport","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}