He sees portraits of the West Indian cricket greats on the walls of the Sri Ramachandra’s Centre for Sports Science (CSS) here, and winces. “The past was great but the present is distressing,” he told The Hindu here on Thursday.
The former West Indian opener and a handy seamer, Phil Simmons, has a new role these days. He is the coach of the Afghanistan team.
The side is training at the CSS and Simmons is on the job. “Afghanistan has quality spinners, there is some talent in pace with Dawlat Zardan leading the pack, but some work needs to be done in batting for the longer format.”
In this context, Simmons said, “It would be very helpful if Afghanistan is allowed by the BCCI to play in the Ranji Trophy. This will particularly help in the development of batsmen. The standard of four-day cricket in Afghanistan needs improvement.”
Head injury
Simmons, now 55, was a marauding strokemaker until he suffered a debilitating head injury; he stopped breathing for a few moments and underwent an emergency surgery.
Simmons recalled, “It was a tour game in England in 1988 and I was hit by this nasty short ball from David Lawrence. There was some internal bleeding in the brain. Actually, I came back from the dead.”
He termed Philip Hughes’ death, after being hit by a short-pitched delivery in 2014, “very unfortunate,” but added that the helmets were a lot more secure now.
Interestingly, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose were his best mates. “I spent a lot of time with them. They were menacing bowlers on the field, but wanted to live, laugh and enjoy life outside the field.”
And Vivian Richards was the most destructive batsman he had seen. “Whether it was sheer pace or spin, he could simply decimate attacks. He has that presence about him and desperately wanted the West Indies to do well.”
Distinct threat
West Indies had a battery of fast bowlers then but the paceman who posed a distinct threat to life and limb, according to Simmons, was Sylvester Clarke. “He did not play a lot for West Indies. Clarke had a short run-up used his shoulders, achieved disconcerting bounce.”
Simmons rated Virat Kohli the best batsman across formats in contemporary cricket and Jasprit Bumrah, India’s most incisive paceman. “He’s got pace, swing, bowls the yorker and the slower ball, gets bounce, he’s a complete package.”
Probe him further about the state of the West Indies cricket now and Simmons replied, “It really hurts. The cut runs deep.”
