WICB chief defends decision to axe Simmons

KINGSTON — West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President Dave Cameron has defended the timing of his decision to sack head coach Phil Simmons, saying he expects the “bold” move to be vindicated in the future.

Simmons was controversially fired last month on the same day the West Indies squad left the Caribbean for the UAE to take on Pakistan in a Twenty20, One-Day International and Test series, reports CMC. But with the board having come under heavy criticism from several quarters over the decision “especially in light of the wretched results on the current tour” a defiant Cameron argued there would never have been an ideal time to remove Simmons.

“There will always be criticism, for example, the one about the coach - the timing (of the decision),” Cameron told Line and Length Network. “I think there’s never a good time to make a decision like that. If we waited three months, it would have been three months later to make a decision and really would not have been the right thing to do.” Trinidadian Simmons, who spent a turbulent 18 months in the post, was terminated over what the board labelled as “differences in culture and strategic approach.”

Subsequently, the Pakistan tour has proven shambolic for the West Indies, as they suffered whitewashes in the three-match T20 and One-Day International series, and currently trail 0-1 in the three-Test series. They were uncharacteristically out of sorts in the T20s — their strongest format — looking anything but the reigning World champions with lacklustre performances in all departments.

Seasoned all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, who were members of the limited overs squad, recently blamed the sudden firing of Simmons for the string of poor results, telling media on their return to the Caribbean that the decision had demoralised the squad. However, Cameron, who in the past has come under fire for his handling of players issues, said leadership was about making bold decisions.

During Simmons’ time in charge, he managed to pull off a rare Test win against England and force a 1-1 draw in the series in the Caribbean last year, and also oversaw the West Indies’ capture of an unprecedented second T20 World Cup title in India last April.