Latest news with #BobbySimpson
Time of India
a day ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Even when past his prime, Bobby Simpson always got the better of India
Legendary cricketer and World Cup-winning coach Bob Simpson dies at 89 Cricket was in chaos in 1977. Billionaire TV mogul Kerry Packer had lured Australia's best, barring speed demon Jeff Thomson, for a never-before seen pro league cobbled from cricket's reigning stars. The Australian board was forced to pull out a mothballed Bobby Simpson, then 41, to skipper the side against Bishan Singh Bedi's touring India. The desperate decision turned out to be a masterstroke. Simpson, who passed away on Saturday at 89, not only skippered the squad filled with newbies with tactical acumen but also became the team's leading run-scorer (539). Interestingly, he had played his last Test against MAK Pataudi's India in 1968 and was making a comeback from retirement after nine long years. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! In the three Tests that Australia won of the five-match series, Simpson's resolute batting was vital, indeed the difference between the two sides: 7 and 89 in Brisbane, 176 and 39 in Perth and 100 and 51 in Adelaide. In the two Tests he failed, Melbourne (2 and 4) and Sydney (38 and 33), India won handsomely. In both these games, Chandrashekhar's googly had his number. Unlike in his prime when he batted as an opener, Simpson turned up in the middle-order for this series. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dwarka's New Hotspot: Excellent Investment Opportunity Omaxe state Learn More Undo The home side prevailed 3-2 but the series continues to be rated among the finest and closest that India was ever involved in. As Mihir Bose wrote in his book, 'A History of Indian Cricket,' 'In a head-tohead confrontation with Packer's circus, the traditional game proved that nothing could replace real Tests.' Praising Simpson, who also took four wickets in the series, TOI's KN Prabhu wrote in a series analysis, 'A man of his experience and character was needed to nurse the many fledglings in his charge to full stature – and how successful he was proved in his achievements. As a cricketer, Simpson always emphasised on fitness and was also regarded among the finest slip fielders of all time. He also epitomised grit. Writing for Sportsweek's World of Cricket in 1978, renowned cricket writer Ray Robinson revealed that the Aussie captain's century in the decisive fifth Test against India had come under exceptional circumstances. 'Not till after the match did he (Simpson) reveal he batted with a broken little finger from a dropped catch in the fourth Test,' Robinson wrote. Poll Which aspect of Bobby Simpson's game do you admire the most? His batting skills. His leadership qualities. His fielding ability. In his 62 Test career, Simpson struck 10 centuries. Of them four came against India, the other two in the 1968 series against Pataudi's men. His overall Test average was close to 47, but his average against India was a little above 53. Clearly, he relished batting against quality spinners often using the pad to great effect. But in the famous Bombay Test in 1964, Simpson was at the receiving end when India wrenched out a nail-biting victory by two wickets on Dussehra day. 'It was the most exciting Test seen in India since the 1948 (India vs West Indies in Bombay) one, some said the most exciting ever,' wrote Bose. Incidentally, not many know that Simpson was among the first to moot the idea of a cricket World Cup to secure the sport's future. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Bobby Simpson, the man who turned Aussie cricketers into destroyers, died aged 89
Bobby Simpson, who has died aged 89, was a world-class all-rounder. He was a batsman who bowled leg-spin, a supreme slip-fielder and a captain so durable that he returned to the captaincy of Australia, successfully, ten years after first retiring. 'Simmo' was tough, uncompromising, prepared to be abrasive in what was still in Australia an amateur age. He was so tough that even though he had his nose broken by a short ball in pre-helmet days, he returned to the fray of batting. He was so tough that he averaged 300 in one Sheffield Shield Season, and so tough that he whipped the Australian cricket team into shape when he had finished as a player – a match-winning shape that Australia have maintained ever since. His toughness stemmed from his background. His parents had emigrated from Scotland to working-class Sydney. Their son dedicated himself to beating Australians at their own game. He was a prodigy in grade cricket and became the second youngest player to represent New South Wales when a week short of his 17th birthday. NSW were by far the strongest state in the 1950s so, to gain a regular place, Simpson transferred to Perth aged 20 to represent the rising state of Western Australia, only recently admitted to the Sheffield Shield, and given a job on a newspaper in Perth. He switched from the middle order to opening the batting as that was where the vacancies were appearing in Australia's Test team. He was picked for Australia's tour of South Africa in 1956-7 and was a modest success, except as a slip-fielder where he was an outstanding success: he took 13 catches in the five Tests. In his 62 Tests overall, he took 110 catches, a ratio which has never been surpassed. As Australia's opening batsman he established a great rapport with Bill Lawry, except perhaps when running between the wickets. Simpson was something of a counterpart to England's Geoffrey Boycott as an opener who never gave his wicket away. After a modest Ashes in England in 1961, he ground out 311 on the Old Trafford featherbed in 1964, and averaged 50 overall against England. As a leg-spinner he took 71 Test wickets at 42 each and conceding only 2.6 runs per over – a very tight and tidy leg-spinner, as I can vouch after batting against him in a media match. Simmo did not give anything away. Australia won the Ashes series 1-0 in 1964 under his captaincy and retained them with a 1-1 draw in Australia in 1965-6. In a way, the most remarkable part of his playing career occurred after he had retired for the first time as Australia's Test captain at the end of 1967. When Kerry Packer swooped to sign the best Australian cricketers for World Series Cricket, nobody was left standing to captain the reserves who had to be transformed into the official Australia first XI in 1977-8 – nobody except Simpson, aged 41, who was still playing in Sydney grade cricket, a major achievement in itself, given the level of abuse that would have been aimed at an old-timer. So Simpson came out of a ten-year retirement from Tests and batted better than any of the rookies who had been called up and found ways to get themselves out – the Yallops and Tooheys, the Woods and Darlings. In his first series against India he grafted 176 and another century, and dragged Australia over the line to win the series 3-2. Never been a Test comeback quite like it, after such a duration. His captaincy on the subsequent tour of the West Indies was naturally not quite so successful, as the home side had some decent pace bowlers, whether they were representing WSC West Indies or their official second eleven. His average of 53 against India in Australia fell to 22 in the West Indies – but, in hindsight at any rate, he should have continued as Australia's captain for the 1978-9 series against England. His successor, Graham Yallop, could not command so tight a ship as Simpson used to. Even then, Simpson's greatest contribution to Australia was probably yet to come. Picture the Australian side of 1985, which England whipped 3-1, and of 1986-7, which England beat 2-1. There were some easy-going and unfit characters. Simpson whipped them almost literally into shape as their head coach. His fielding routines were punishing as never before. Having been a superb fielder himself – arguably the finest of all slips – he knew how hard to drive his players. And it worked. For the 1987 World Cup in India and Pakistan, a new and inexperienced Australian side were outsiders. But they were dogged, like the captain Allan Border and their opener Geoff Marsh, and they were the best fielding team in the tournament, and they shocked Pakistan in the semi-final at Lahore, then stunned England in the final at Calcutta when Australia won by seven runs. From then on Simpson's influence has prevailed. Fielding and fitness have been non-negotiables. Or put it this way: from the start of the 1989 Ashes until 2005, England won only a single Test match (Edgbaston 1997) when the Ashes were at stake. Any other wins came in a dead rubber. This was the ship, the destroyer, which Simpson launched.
Times
19-06-2025
- Sport
- Times
Karun Nair, axed after triple century against England, gets second chance
'D ear Cricket, give me one more chance.' There cannot have been a more touching, heartfelt plea issued on social media by a cricketer. Not just any old cricketer, either, but someone with a Test-match triple hundred to his name, who, in December 2022 when that tweet was sent, was scrapping around the margins of the professional game looking for another opportunity to impress. Karun Nair, back in India's squad again, is a name that will not be lost on England supporters. In his third Test and in his third Test innings, Nair became only the second India batsman after Virender Sehwag to make a triple century in Test cricket when he put England to the sword in Chennai in 2016. Only two other batsmen in the history of the game, before Nair, had converted their maiden hundred into a triple: Garfield Sobers and Bobby Simpson.
Times
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Bob Cowper obituary: Australian cricketer and Ashes triple centurion
If you look down the list of the highest individual scores in Ashes cricket, it is no surprise to find the names of Len Hutton and Don Bradman at the top. In third place comes the former Australian captain Bobby Simpson, followed by Bob Cowper, whose 307 at Melbourne during the 1965-66 series makes him one of only four batsmen (although Bradman achieved the feat twice) to have recorded a triple century in 148 years of Test cricket between England and Australia. He also remains the only batsman to do so on Australian soil, the monumental innings by Hutton, Bradman and Simpson all taking place at English Test grounds. At the time, Cowper had a point to prove. His epic innings came in the fifth
