Phil Simmons Sacked as West Indies Coach

In an official statement, the cricket board stated that their decision was due to “differences in cultural and strategic approach” that arose from Simmons’s public pronouncements and internal approach.

“The decision to fire Coach Simmons is consistent with the actions of this current WICB, whose actions are usually motivated by spite and vendetta, rather than by what is in the best interest of West Indies Cricket”, said Prime Minister Mitchell, who is NY on State business.

However despite that high point, strains between Simmons and the WICB often bubbled beneath the surface, most notably in 2015, when he complained about the selection of the squad for a one-day series against Sri Lanka.

Despite winning the World T20, in the recent Test series against India, West Indies lost 2-0 and after playing 14 test matches, it only secured one victory to give it a shared series against England previous year. The team will be managed by Joel Garner.

His reinstatement, the WICB said in a statement, was “conditioned upon” two criteria: “issuance to him of a letter of reprimand for his inappropriate public comments”, and his “making a public apology to the WICB and persons whom he may have offended”.

Rumours were swirling on Saturday about Simmons likely being booted out, but when pressed about the matter, Dave Cameron, the WICB president, kept mum, instead giving the board a pat on the back for the teams under its umbrella bagging three ICC titles this year.

Simmons was reinstated in November and oversaw a dramatic World T20 triumph, the team’ second, in India in April. “It is wrong and I don’t like it and that is my beef with the selection of the ODI team”.

However, his removal from the position comes as a major surprise. In June, the board also replaced former skipper Clive Lloyd with Courtney Browne as the chairman of selectors, a move that was heavily criticised.

West Indies’ next assignment is in 10 days, when they face Pakistan in three T20s, three ODIs, and three Tests – including a day-night Test in Dubai.