Former Australian Cricketer and Captain Bob Simpson dies at age of 89

New Delhi: Former Australia captain and coach Bob Simpson died at the age of 89. He was born in Sydney and in 1957 he first toured with the Australian team. Simpson played 62 Test matches, captaining 39 of them. He scored 4,869 runs and took 71 wickets. Under his captaincy, Australia won 12 Test matches.

Simpson had a long and memorable career. He scored his first Test century in 1964 at Old Trafford and converted it into a triple century (311 runs). He was the first captain to score a triple century in Test cricket. This record remained in his name for 61 years, which was broken by South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder in 2025.

Simpson retired from cricket after 1967, but in 1977 at the age of 41, he was persuaded to take charge of the team. During the World Series Cricket, the team was scattered and his return gave stability to Australia. During this time, he also scored two centuries and performed brilliantly.