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.
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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.
Simpson (left) and Colin McDonald during Australia’s tour of England in 1961 – Getty Images/Evening Standard
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.
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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.
Simpson played an important role in the development of a young Shane Warne (left) – AP
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.
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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.
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