Book Review - Simmo: Cricket then and Now by Bob Simpson

 Simmo: Cricket then and now by Bob Simpson

Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2006               ISBN 978741750416

As always, the death of a great cricketer causes one to stop and reflect on their influence on the game. Since his recent passing it has been pointed out that there are few Australian cricketers who have had such an influence on the game for such a long period as Bob Simpson did during his career as player, captain, journalist and commentator, and coach. 

Part of one of the statistically great opening partnerships in test history with Bill Lawry, Bob Simpson captained Australia for 39 tests in total, famously coming back to captain the Australian team when most of the players had defected to World Series Cricket in the 1970s. I still have strong memories of watching that comeback series in my grandmother's house in Castlemaine - fascinated by the Indian spinners, and wondering who the old bloke that led Australia was.

I have much stronger memories of his time as Australian coach, where he and Allan Border came together to build the juggernaut that became the Australian team of the 90s and 2000s. He was uncompromising, with a strong work ethic, and he turned a group of fair cricketers into a world-conquering group. He never took a backward step, and he hasn't in this book.

Cricket then and now is a journey through Simmo's mind - from reminiscences of playing with greats such as Neil Harvey, Keith Miller and Richie Benaud, to his work as coach, to thoughts on throwing, umpiring, technique and concentration, there is much in this book to entertain and while away the hours until Summer comes again.

Simpson was one of the great slips fielders, so it's interesting to learn that he ended up in that position by chance, when during a New South Wales game he asked his captain Keith Miller where he should field "Oh, I don't know, laddie. There is a hole over there. That will do for you." That "hole" was first slip, and an hour and two catches later, his fate was sealed.

Simpson is also very strong on mentorship of younger players by older, and holds Neil Harvey in very high regard in this matter. He felt that without the guidance and support of the great left-hander his cricket skills, and more importantly his cricketing brain would not have become as well-developed as they had. He is fairly explicit in this book in explaining that this idea of mentorship was what drove him to become coach of Australia - in his view that passing of information on from one cricketing generation to the next had broken down in Australia owing to the WSC interregnum, and that the side of the early to mid 80s was struggling owing to inexperience, but without the capacity to improve by learning from their elders.

Therefore Bob took up the cudgels, and worked on turning that team into matchwinners. He worked hard on fielding - "you can't teach someone to be a great fieldsman, but you can teach them to be more than competent." This truism became the backbone of the great Australian sides - catches taken, boundaries turned into threes, and singles into run-out opportunities - they made any opposing batsman's time at the crease a constant source of stress. He bemoans in this book how (in 2006) that side of the Australian skillset had been left to wither somewhat (he wrote this book just before T20 took off, he might be heartened by the fielding exploits in that arena).

Simmo notes that  (when he was wrote the book) the art of swing bowling had almost died. That it has returned somewhat would be pleasing to him, and also fits in with his chapter explaining how what comes around goes around in cricket history - batteries of fast men have been the answer, until they weren't, spinners were gone, then they came back, and Simpson has seen it all before.

Simpson is not afraid of controversy. His chapter on throwing is instructive and disappointing all at the same time. His journey through the history of the problem through the 1960s is instructive to those of us who didn't live through it, and his dismay at the current way devised to tackle the problem I think is shared by many of us. What I found most valuable was his description and explanation of what advantage bowlers find through throwing, and how that affects the batsman.

He is reluctant to compare players from different eras, and explains clearly why it is almost impossible to do so, along the way showing us that stats are quite often not the most reliable way to judge a cricketer's career (or whether a particular match was entertaining).

So, Cricket Then and Now is a bit of a tour around the cricket firmament from one of its luminaries. Not a bad read, and a nice way to remember the passing of a legend.

Cheers for now, from

A View Over the Bell