West Indies coach Phil Simmons will continue in his post as head coach after his meeting with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Human Resources committee over a public outburst, ended with just a slap on the wrist, well placed sources within the WICB told Guardian Media.
Simmons was suspended by the WICB after he alleged that there was ‘outside’ influence in the non-selection of T&T players Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard. He was replaced by selector Eldine Baptiste as coach for the current series in Sri Lanka. Simmons met with the Committee and CEO of the WICB, Michael Muirhead last Wednesday and he was warned about his outburst and told that comments like those would not be tolerated in the future.
Asked whether Simmons would immediately join the team in Sri Lanka, as they have three ODI matches and two T20s still to come, the source said: “At this point in time it is still to be decided, so at this point Eldine is there working with the team.” Simmons will take the team to Australia for three Test matches starting in early December. He would then have a busy period in the first half of 2016, as he takes the team to the T20 World Cup in India.
The Indians are also expected to come to the Caribbean to play four Test matches. This is still up in the air as the WICB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are still in negotiations after the Indians cut all bilateral ties over the aborted tour last year.
After the Indian series, the West Indies will play a tri-series involving top rated South Africa and Australia in the Caribbean. This series will be very important for the Caribbean as the matches will count towards their rankings for the World Cup in England in 2019.
The cut-off period for straight qualification has been set as September 2017 and the West Indies would want to avoid a playoff under the new structure set up by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
