SYDNEY: Former Australia Test captain Bob Simpson, who ushered in the country’s modern-day golden era of cricket as its coach, has died aged 89, Cricket Australia said on Saturday.

Simpson played 62 Tests between 1957 and 1978, scoring 4,869 runs, including 10 hundreds, and claimed 71 wickets with his leg spin following his debut on a tour of South Africa.

Simpson, one of the greatest slip fielders the game has ever seen, initially retired from the game in 1968 before returning as Test captain at the age of 41 after several front-line Australian players had joined the World Series Cricket in 1977.

“Bob Simpson was one of the greats of Australian cricket, and this is a sad day for anyone fortunate to have watched him play or who benefited from his wisdom,” said Cricket Australia Chair Mike Baird.

“As a brilliant opening batter, incredible slips fielder and handy spin bowler, Bob was a mainstay of a very strong Australian team in the 1960s, and he became a leader across the game as Australian and New South Wales captain and as a coach.

“Bob’s decision to come out of retirement to successfully lead the Australian team during the advent of World Series Cricket in 1977 was a wonderful service to the game, and his coaching set the foundation for a golden generation for Australian cricket.”

As coach, Simpson is credited with instilling discipline in an Australia side led by Allan Border, which went on to win the 1987 World Cup and regained both the Ashes and the Frank Worrell Trophy.

Leg-spin great Shane Warne called Simpson the best coach he played under and someone who helped his development.

Simpson also coached Lancashire and the Netherlands and worked as a consultant with the Indian team in the late 1990s.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that Simpson’s “extraordinary service to Australian cricket spanned generations”.

“As a player, captain and then era-defining coach, he set the highest of standards for himself and the champions he led. He will be long remembered by the game he loved,” he wrote on social media.

Simpson was inducted in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.

He achieved 21,029 runs at an average of 56.22 in first-class cricket, hit 60 centuries and took 349 wickets at an average of 38.07, according to the Sports Australia Hall of Fame.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2025