Australia lost one of its greats yesterday, with the passing of cricketing icon Bob Simpson.

Simpson played in 62 test matches and compiled 4,869 runs at an average of 46.81 – which are incredible figures, even by today’s standards. His highest score was an epic 311 against England at Old Trafford in 1964, which incidentally was his first test century.

Bob Simpson would form a famous opening partnership with Bill Lawry throughout the nineteen-sixties, and would go on to captain his country in the 1963/64 series vs South Africa in the absence of Richie Benaud. Following Benaud’s retirement at the end of the season, Simpson was appointed the captaincy permanently ahead of the 1964 Ashes tour.

Simpson retired from test cricket after the 1967/68 home series against India, but would make a famous comeback at the age of 41 to captain his country following the World Series Cricket rebellion in 1977.

In 1986, Simpson was appointed coach of the struggling national team under Allan Border, and together both men would turn the fortunes of Australian cricket around; to such an effect that the groundwork laid would reap the rewards for decades to come.

Bringing a new level of professionalism and mental toughness to the job, Simpson’s influence on the young team brought about immediate results; with winning the 1987 World Cup and destroying England 4-0 in the 1989 Ashes perhaps the two greatest examples. He would remain in the job – despite a few health issues – until the 1996 World Cup where Australia were beaten by Sri Lanka in the final.

On a personal note, I was fortunate enough to meet Bob Simpson around ten years ago. I was on my lunch break from work and noticed an old fellow sitting on a bench outside a newsagency at the Newington shops in Western Sydney. I knew it was Simpson, but politely had to ask the man as this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet an Aussie legend – and quite frankly, I could not believe my luck!

What an absolute gentleman he turned out to be, and the pair of us chatted candidly about cricket for around ten minutes. We could have continued our conversation for a little longer, but sadly I had to return to work. This was an encounter that has stayed with me until this day, and I was saddened to hear of this great man’s passing yesterday.

Vale Bob Simpson (1936-2025)