BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DESPITE his fortunes of leading the West Indies to the T20 World title and an upcoming tour to United Arab Emirate (UAE), the West Indies Cricket Board has sacked Head Coach Phil Simmons.
Word broke yesterday (Sept. 13) that he was sacked from his post as the lead coach of the men’s team, and late last evening in a press statement the West Indies Cricket Board informed that “effectively immediately, the WICB today announced it has separated from the Head Coach Phil Simmons”.
According to the regional cricket board, the decision was taken during their Board of Directors meeting on Saturday (Sept. 10).
The statement described the sacking as being a differences in culture between Simmons and the Board.
“In recent times, based on the public pronouncements of the coach and the approach internally, we have identified differences in culture and strategic approach. The WICB would therefore like to thank the coach for his contribution and wishes him the best in his future endeavours.”
Simmons had been embroiled in controversies with the Board in recent months over his public criticisms.
In fact, he was suspended from his position and made to issue a public apology to the Board and those of whom he offended by his comments.
Since word broke of his sacking, many have taken to social media platforms to heavily criticize the Board for its action, noting the successes that the embattled coach has brought to the team in recent months.
The sacking of Simmons comes on the heels of the Board removing Curtly Ambrose as the Bowling Coach for the regional men’s team, and the sacking of Darren Sammy as the T20 captain – following comments he made at the World Cup back in April.
Simmons’ sacking also comes at a time when the team finalizes preparations for their tour of the United Arab Emirates, where they will be locking horns with Pakistan in three T20, three ODIs and three Test matches.
In the interim, the team will be headed by Manager Joel Garner and twill be coached by Henderson Springer and Roddy Estwick.
Phil Simmons took over as Head Coach of the senior regional team last year, after a stint with the Ireland cricket team.
