Despite winning of World T20 2016, West Indies coach Phil Simmons’ relation with WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) members has not improved yet.
Simmons’s relationship with WICB president David Cameron and director of cricket Richard Pybus are not good since Simmons was suspended for his controversial comments about team selection at last September.
In an interview to ESPNcricinfo, when Simmons was asked about his relationship with Pybus, he replied, “Relationship is a difficult word. He communicates via e-mails but he has not spoken to me since the suspension. It’s sad because this is not about him or me, this is about West Indies cricket. There has not even been any personal or team congratulatory message on the World Cup win.”
After that, Simmons was also asked about his relationship with Cameron. The former West Indian all-rounder answered, “It is the same thing. It was good when I first came in. I would get the occasional text message and I earned a big hug when we won the Test match in Barbados [against England], but since my suspension there has been no communication, not verbal nor written, and again no congratulatory message.”
After ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, Simmons was appointed as West Indies coach. Under his coaching, West Indies has drawn a Test series against England (1-1) while lost the Test series against Australia (0-2) and both were at home.
After that, ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, Simmons took a dig at WICB by complaining about the interference from outside in the team selection. Due to this reason, WICB had suspended him from that tour.
After the Sri Lanka tour, Simmons was reinstated with the West Indies cricket team ahead of Australia tour just after he had taken apologise for his comment.
Simmons spoke out his motivation secret. He said, “For me it is not difficult to remain motivated because the ship is West Indies cricket. The ship is not the president or the director of cricket or Phil Simmons. West Indies cricket means more to me than anything else. Especially working with the younger players, getting them to understand what they have to do at the international level, keeps my head up all the time. My professionalism also helps me to continually to put in my best in my job.”
When Simmons was asked about his current challenge, he replied, “The immediate challenge is being able to get the best team on the park in all formats. The Caribbean is buzzing now. The more we win, the more people will want to play cricket and want to get back into cricket. For me, the real challenge is to get people to understand that this is the direction West Indies cricket should be taking. If I don’t get people to understand that, then I don’t know what is next.”