OUTSPOKEN West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has been put on pause for speaking out against team selection matters.
On the eve of the regional team’s tour of Sri Lanka, Simmons was suspended by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)yesterday and won’t be travelling with the team to Sri Lanka, tomorrow as scheduled. He has been replaced as coach by former West Indies all-rounder Eldine Baptiste, who is ironically a selector.
The burly Trinidadian, who was only appointed six months ago, was highly critical of the continued exclusion of compatriots Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo from the ODI squad, claiming there had been “outside interference” in the selection process.
Simmons surprisingly left Barbados – a day after he made the remarks to reporters at the end of the pre-tour training camp – for the United Kingdom where he was due to meet up with the players, who were leaving the Caribbean in two separate batches. The first group left yesterday with little fanfare and the remainder are due to leave today.
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