Former West Indies all-rounder Phil Simmons has been appointed as interim coach of Bangladesh until the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
The 61-year-old is replacing Chandika Hathurusinghe, who has been suspended by the Bangladesh Cricket Board on disciplinary grounds.
Hathurusinghe has been suspended for 48 hours and is to be "terminated immediately" after that period and has also been served a show-cause notice by the board.
"Hathurusinghe has two counts of misconduct," BCB president Faruque Ahmed said.
"First is about an assault on a player. Secondly, he took too many leaves, more than what was in his contract."
This will be Simmons’ fifth international coaching job including stints as West Indies men’s head coach from 2015-2016 and 2019-2022.
Former West Indies head coach Phil Simmons says he is looking forward to being back in his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago while assisting Papua New Guinea through their ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup campaign in which they will rub shoulders with West Indies.
Simmons, 61, joins Oceania side as a specialist coach, and he will provide Papua New Guinea's head coach Tatenda Taibu with some added experience and knowledge of playing in Caribbean conditions during the June 1-29 showpiece, which will also see games being played in United States.
“My role here is as a consultant coach and how I put across my experience, not just playing in World Cups, but playing in the Caribbean and the things that we should be looking at to make sure we do it right in the Caribbean and especially the venues that we play at,” Simmons shared.
Having built a strong reputation working with international sides such as Zimbabwe, Ireland, and Afghanistan, Simmons, who has played the sport for 14 years and coached for a further 18 years, was pressed for time to spend in the Caribbean and, as such, welcomed the opportunity to spend some time in the twin island republic.
“It’s been a long time in the game. It’s always brilliant to come home, always brilliant to come back to any part of the West Indies you know how beautiful it is here. I’m looking forward to getting home, which is Trinidad. Having people come here, me getting back here, it’s always a great thing, it’s always something to look forward to," he declared.
Simmons, who recently joined the Papua New Guinea squad in their pre-World Cup training camp in St Kitts, expressed pleasure with what he has seen so far.
“Their energy is unbelievable. Their warm-ups alone, got me tired. The guys look like they have settled in really well. In training, we started to get out in the middle of their game, so they started on some of the things they have to do here in the Caribbean, and it’s nice to see the energy that’s among this squad," Simmons said.
“I’ve known the head coach [Taibu] for a long time, and he’s always been energetic. There is always a lot of energy, but the players seem to be pushing him where that is concerned, and so I like that atmosphere in the team, I like the liveliness in the team," he added.
Papua New Guinea will contest Group C alongside West Indies, Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Uganada. They will open against the Caribbean side on June 2, at the National Cricket Stadium in Guyana.
Karachi Kings have appointed the former West Indies allrounder Phil Simmons as their head coach ahead of the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) season. Simmons takes over from the former South Africa allrounder Johan Botha, who coached Kings to a second-from-bottom finish, with three wins from 10 games, in PSL 2023.
Simmons, who played 26 Tests and 143 ODIs from 1987 to 1999, has enjoyed an extensive coaching career including multiple stints with West Indies, the most recent of which ended after the team's first-round exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. He is currently head coach of Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and LA Knight Riders in Major League Cricket (MLC).
Simmons played one international game in Karachi, during the 1987 World Cup, and he said in a statement that he looked forward to returning to the city and working with Kings team director Haider Azhar.
"Returning to Karachi, a city I hold dear from my playing days, feels like a homecoming," Simmons said.
"I am thrilled to join forces with Haider Azhar and the rest of the team's think tank, drawing from the rich cricketing heritage of this country. I am thankful to team owner Salman Iqbal, CEO Tariq Wasi, and Karachi Kings management for this opportunity. We are eager to move ahead with our rebuilding and restart process of Karachi Kings and establish this franchise as a match-winning unit."
Kings have won one title - in 2020 - in eight seasons of the PSL. They will hope the appointment of Simmons will revive their fortunes after their failure to make the playoffs of the tournament in both 2022 and 2023.
Simmons' first task will be building Kings' squad during the player draft on Wednesday. Kings currently have eight players on their roster: Shan Masood (captain), James Vince, Hasan Ali, Shoaib Malik, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Akhlaq and Muhammad Irfan Khan.
The 2024 season of the PSL is scheduled to run from February 13 to March 18.
Former Antigua and Leeward Islands batsman Ralston Otto died on Friday at his home in Antigua after a decade-long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 65.
Otto played 48 first-class matches for the Leeward Islands between 1979 and 1990. During that period, he scored 2550 runs that included six centuries and 12 50s at an average of 34.00.
The right-handed batsman was the vice-captain of the West Indies ‘B’ that toured Zimbabwe in 1986. Former West Indies batsman Carlyle Best was the captain of that team that included Jimmy Adams and Carl Hooper who would both go on to become captains of the West Indies team, Phil Simmons, David Williams, Julian Charles, Javon Etienne and Vibert Greene among others.
A cousin to West Indies fast-bowling great Sir Curtly Ambrose, Otto would go on to manage the Leeward Islands team. He also managed the Antigua and Barbuda team that participated in the Stanford 20/20 tournament in 2008.
Trinbago Knight Riders have appointed former West Indies coach Phil Simmons as their new head coach. He replaces Abhishek Nayar, who is currently the assistant coach for Kolkata Knight Riders.
TKR, the most successful team in the history of the Caribbean Premier League with four titles, finished bottom of the league stage last year and failed to make the playoffs for the first time.
Simmons has previous coaching experience in the CPL as well and, in his most recent stint, he won the title with Barbados Royals, who were then known as Barbados Tridents.
Simmons has had two stints as head coach of West Indies, with his most recent one ending with their tour of Australia in December last year. He then went on to coach Dubai Capitals in the inaugural season of the International League T20, leading them to the playoffs.
"As captain, I'm very excited to have coach Phil with us. We have a great chemistry working together as a pair," Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard said.
"We've done it in the international scene, and it's great that we are getting the opportunity to work for TKR. Hopefully, this combination will bring smiles and some exciting results back to TKR," he added.
Apart from West Indies, Simmons has also coached Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan.
CPL 2023 gets underway on August 16, with Knight Riders playing their first game on August 19 against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
Renowned former West Indies wicketkeeper, Deryck Murray, has commended the team’s coach Phil Simmons for stepping down from the post but insists he is far from the only one who should be doing so.
The regional team has endured a particularly wretched run of form across all formats in recent months. A poor showing at the T20 World Cup saw the two-time champions embarrassingly eliminated in the first round of the competition after loses to Scotland and Ireland.
In the aftermath, Simmons, and, then later team captain Nicholas Pooran, resigned their positions. The Test team then traveled to Australia to face the home team in a two-match series where they were badly outplayed. In the second Test, for instance, the team lost by a massive 419 runs after being bowled out for 77.
In light of such performances, Murray believes there needs to be many more changes at the broader management level than just Simmons, if the team is to truly start moving forward.
“I want to commend Phil Simmons he has done the honourable thing.
He was responsible for the team when we did not qualify for the T20 World cup and he did the hourrable thing,” Murray told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“We should not assume for one minute, however, that one man, Philip Simmons, is responsible for the decline, for the losses of West Indies cricket," he added.
“I keep looking to see others follow suite but nothing like that has happened…”
Murray went on to state that he believed the entire government system surrounding the sport in the region needed to change.
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons admits to some disappointment with a draw in the final four-day tour game against Prime Minister’s XI at Manuka Oval but believes it has been adequate preparation ahead of the two-Test series against Australia, which begins next week.
Chasing a total of 309 runs for victory, on the final day, a win seemed possible when the team entered the final break at 221 for 5, needing another 88 runs to claim victory.
The West Indies had a less-than-ideal start to the final session, however, and found themselves reduced to 273 for 8, following the dismissals of Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph, and then Kemar Roach, in fairly quick succession.
Raymon Reifer and Joshua Da Silva then combined to help West Indies fight for the draw, playing out the final eight overs to finish on 277 for 8.
“I’m not happy with the results, we should have won it,” Simmons said following the final ball.
“We have a few misplaced wickets in the middle, while we were controlling the game, so that was a disappointment, but at the end of the day the way how the guys fought is always greatly encouraging,” he added.
With the players getting plenty of opportunities to bat and bowl in pressure situations, Simmons was though satisfied with what the tour match provided, ahead of a difficult series.
“The two games have been very good for us, mind you, flattish wickets, but the bowlers got the overs in their legs and the batsmen got their time at the crease so that was good for us.”
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has confirmed that as reported by Sportsmax.TV earlier Monday, Phil Simmons will be stepping down from his role as Head Coach of the West Indies Men’s team following the team’s exit from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup being played in Australia.
His last assignment will be the upcoming two-Test series against Australia from 30 November to 12 December.
“I acknowledge that it’s not just the team that is hurting but the proud nations we represent as well," said Simmons on his resignation.
"It’s disappointing and heart wrenching but we just didn’t turn up. We weren’t good enough and we now have to watch a tournament play-out without our involvement. It's unfathomable and for that I deeply apologize to our fans and followers.
“From a personal perspective this is not a knee jerk reaction, but a move I have been considering for some time and now is the time to make public that I will step down as West Indies Head Coach at the end of the Test series against Australia. It is earlier than hoped for, but I will now focus my energies in Australia on continuing to build on the excellent progress the Test team has made. Of course, as the President has pointed out, we will also carry out the necessary review into our World Cup campaign.
“I must say I have enjoyed aspects of the unique challenge that being West Indies Head Coach provides and the unwavering support of my Management Team. There remain some exceptional individuals within CWI who I firmly believe will continue to work in the best interests of West Indies cricket.”
CWI President Ricky Skerritt thanked Simmons for his service.
“On behalf of CWI I want to thank Phil for his hard work and dedication to West Indies cricket, most recently in his role as head coach," the CWI president said.
"Phil is a proud West Indian, with high ideals and has never lacked motivation in guiding our younger players on and off the field of play. He brought valuable experience and stability at a very important period of transformation, including the most challenging environment of the COVID-19 pandemic. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Simmons was at the helm in 2016 when West Indies won their second ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title defeating England at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Earlier this year he guided the team’s fortunes in their hard-fought 1-0 Test series win over England on home soil to capture the Richards-Botham Trophy and in June a Test series victory against Bangladesh in their last outing.
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As the fallout begins regarding the West Indies’ disastrous performance at the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, Phil Simmons, head coach of the two-time world champions, has reportedly tendered his resignation, Sportsmax.TV sources have indicated. Members of the CWI board are said to have convened an emergency meeting over the matter.
Simmons tendered his resignation on Saturday, sources said, and it is expected to take effect in January 2023 as his contract requires that he give his employers 12 weeks’ notice.
The timing of the resignation comes at an inopportune time as the West Indies are scheduled to Australia for two Tests in late November. The team begins with a four-day pink-ball match from November 23-26. The first Test bowls off on November 30.
Simmons was appointed head coach in 2019 shortly after Ricky Skerritt and Dr Kishore Shallow came to power at Cricket West Indies Annual General Meeting in Kingston. Since then, West Indies have fared poorly in international competition.
The team is currently ranked eighth in Tests, ninth in ODIs and seventh in T20I.
At the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, the West Indies won one match before bowing out of the competition. Then just last week, at the 2022 competition, the West Indies put in an even more disappointing performance, failing to get to the Super 12 round for the first time ever having lost their opening match by 42 runs to Scotland before being dumped out of the competition following a humiliating nine-wicket loss to Ireland in the qualifying round.
Following the nine-wicket drubbing, the CWI boss laid the blame squarely at the feet at the batsmen while promising to conduct a thorough investigation into the reasons behind the poor showing.
"Untimely shot selections seem to be deeply embedded in the T20 batting culture of our senior team," the CWI president said.
Australian captain and great Ricky Ponting called the showing “embarrassing”.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons insists the team will have to make do with the players that are available as the unit continues to suffer the absence of a few high-profile players.
Chief among that group is Sunil Narine, who was once ranked as the world’s number one spinner and a regular feature in T20 leagues around the world. Narine has not appeared in a match for the team since 2019. Also missing are the likes of big-hitter Andre Russell and Evin Lewis who have not featured for the team since last year’s T20 World Cup. Russell has been unavailable while Lewis has not taken the required fitness tests to be included in the team selections.
All three players have, however, continued to take part in the lucrative T20 leagues around the world, despite not playing for the regional team since last year's World cup debacle. Simmons admits that not having all the players the team would love to have available is not the ideal scenario but expects the cricketers to be motivated to play for the West Indies.
“I’ve made it a point of duty, anywhere that I’ve gone, I don’t think you should be begging people to play for their country,” Simmons told members of the media on Tuesday.
“I think if you want to represent the West Indies, you make yourself available for West Indies cricket,” he added.
“Life has changed in that people have the opportunity to go to different places, if they pick that over the West Indies then that’s how it is, but it doesn’t make sense me going out there and begging you to play for the West Indies because I don’t know if you will come with as strong a heart as I want you to have.”
The West Indies are currently trailing New Zealand 1-0 in the ongoing T20 series.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons has backed the One Day International (ODI) team to eventually pull things together after a number of discouraging recent results.
The ODI format has been the team’s least productive over the last few years, having won just 9 of 51 series played in the last 10 years, which amounts to a 17 percent win rate. In the last three consecutive series, the regional team has failed to win a game after being swept aside 3-0 by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.
In three of the last four matches against Bangladesh and then India, however, the team at least managed to put in strong batting performances despite losing the match.
“The first two games we batted the 50 overs and looked like we understood what batting 50 overs was about. I think that’s a step forward and we will just have to keep trying to move forward with that,” Simmons told members of the media on Wednesday.
“The bowlers have been doing it in a few games and not the batsmen. Now it’s turned around. So, we’ve got to get everything together. The one plus is that the fielding keeps getting better and better, so we have to put everything together,” he added.
“Everything takes time, the guys have been playing together more and more and we are having a squad play together more and more. That’s what happened with the Test team, the guys played together for a while and now we are seeing the fruits of that. Let’s see what happens with the ODI team.”
West Indies coach Phil Simmons was satisfied the team was on the right path in the first T20 international against Bangladesh before the match was called off due to rain.
Pace bowler Romario Sheperd had captured 3 for 21 and led the way for the West Indies who reduced Bangladesh to 105 for 8 from 13 overs after the match had been reduced to 14 for each team after early showers delayed the start of play.
When play did begin, Munim Shahriar was dismissed in the first over, putting Bangladesh immediately on the back foot at 2 for 1. From there the team lost wickets at regular intervals, with Shakib Al Hasan providing the most resistance with 29 from 15.
Hayden Walsh Jr was the next most successful bowler for the West Indies after taking 2 for 24.
“I think we are getting to where we want to be. The aggression was there, the guys ran in and hit the wicket. They made Bangladesh play,” Simmons said after the match was called off.
“We took four wickets early on and I think we did the right things today. In the field we took all the catches that came to us, so we did all the right things.”
The teams are scheduled to play the second match of the series on Sunday at the Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica.
West Indies coach Phil Simmonds expects improved bowling performances from spinner Gudakesh Motie in the future after a fruitless debut with the ball against Bangladesh last week.
Overall, the spinner ended the opening Test with no wicket from 16 overs and conceded 43 runs. The debut stood a far way from his performances in the West Indies Championship this season where he claimed 17 wickets in five matches, earning the attention of the West Indies selectors.
The 27-year-old did, however, make some sort of contribution with the bat after making 23 unbeaten from 21 deliveries, in the first innings.
“He scored a 100 in the Championship, so he can hold the bat and he can score like we saw but his bowling is going to improve,” Simmons said, following the first Test.
“I think when you play in your first Test match there’s always nerves, there’s a lot of things, but his bowling is going to improve,” he added.
While, for the most part, it was the pace bowlers who dominated affairs, Bangladesh spinner Mehidy Hasan claimed 4 for 59 in the first innings to put some pressure on the West Indies batting line-up. West Indies and Bangladesh will face off in the second and final Test on Friday.
West Indies Head Coach Phil Simmons has praised Captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s determination after the team’s seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Sunday.
In the first innings, Brathwaite made 94 off 268 balls, batting for 400 minutes in the process.
“There’s not much to tell as a batsman because I think everybody’s seen his determination and unique style,” Simmons said in an interview after the match.
“He doesn’t have a problem being there for five days and doing his job which is unique because a lot of batsmen nowadays want to play shots and be done with it but, from his point of view, he wants to be there all the time for his team and that rolls into the captaincy,” he added.
Since being named permanent Captain in March 2021, Brathwaite has led the team to a series win against England and drawn series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“He seems to be growing into the role as we go along,” Simmons said.
“He’s not loud but the players know what he wants in his unique way. He makes them understand what he wants from them,” he added.
Brathwaite’s next assignment will be to lead the team to victory in the second test against Bangladesh which begins on Friday at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St. Lucia.
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons insists he understands and respects the decision of recently retired captain Kieron Pollard but insists the player’s passion and desire will be sorely missed.
After nearly 16-years representing the regional team and three years in charge of both the One Day International (ODI) and T20 squads, the 34-year-old Pollard announced his decision to step away from international cricket last week.
“Skipper it is sad to see you retire from the maroon shirt so early…I completely understand,” Simmons said, addressing the issue via Facebook.
“Your ability to give players your backing and trust to deliver and your strong leadership both on and off the field was a joy to work with,” he added.
Pollard took charge of both squads in 2019 and experienced mixed fortunes during his tenure. The T20 squad lost 21 of 39 matches and had a disastrous defense of its World Cup title. The ODI squad on the other hand fared better, winning 13 and losing 11 of 21 matches played. Still, Simmons hailed Pollard as a positive force for pushing players to reach their full potential and having a genuine desire to see the team do well.
“Your passion for pushing players to build on skills and knowledge of the game and more. Your unwillingness to settle for mediocrity was a pleasure to work with,” Simmons said.
“Your undoubted passion for the game and especially the Maroon Shirt together with your desire to bring success to the West Indies cricket team henceforth Cricket West Indies will be missed. You will be missed.”
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