Robert Baddeley Simpson (3 February 1936 – 16 August 2025), known as Simmo, was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and the Australian national team. He captained the Australian team from 1963/64 until 1967/68 and again in 1977/78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the national team.
An outstanding fielder with the highest catch rate in Tests, Simpson was a top-level right-handed batsman and semi-regular leg spin bowler. After ten years in retirement, he returned to the spotlight at age 41 to captain Australia during the era of World Series Cricket.
In 1986, Simpson was appointed coach of the Australian team, a position he held until being replaced by Geoff Marsh in July 1996. Under Simpson's tutelage, the team went from a struggling team, losing a succession of Test series, to the strongest team in world cricket. Some of the team's greatest achievements in his time as coach were winning the 1987 World Cup, regaining The Ashes in England in 1989, and overcoming the previously dominant West Indies on their home grounds in 1995. He also coached county cricket in England, with Leicestershire and Lancashire.
Early years Born to Scottish immigrants from Falkirk, Simpson grew up in the inner-southwestern Sydney suburb of Marrickville. His father Jock was a printer and played soccer for Stenhousemuir in the Scottish League,Haigh, p. 190. his grandfather Harry played briefly for Stoke, and the 1910s England international football player Jock Simpson was also a relative., Falkirk Football Historian, 29 November 2010 Simpson was encouraged as a schoolboy by his two elder brothers Bill and Jack, who played in first division Sydney Grade Cricket for many years. He began his own career as a fast bowler and batsman who played in any position. He showed early leadership skills, captaining Marrickville West Primary School and later Tempe Intermediate High School. He captained 14-year-olds at the age of 12.Robinson, p. 265.
In his early years, Simpson was also a talented golfer, baseballer and soccer player, and was known for being a confident and tenacious competitor. He raised money to buy his first set of golf clubs by collecting lost balls from Marrickville Golf Course and selling them second-hand. Even at a young age, Simpson was known as an unrelenting competitor. He appealed loudly against brother Jack for leg before wicket (lbw) in a club match in spite of a loud edge; the umpire did not hear the favour and upheld the appeal. In a match in 1956, Simpson appealed for lbw against John Shaw after he had been hit in the head by a low bouncer from Pat Crawford, whereas his teammates were busy coming to the aid of the injured batsman. Simpson said "I was a naturally ambitious person anyway and never had any doubts I could go further. It sounds cocky but I always believed in my own talents."
At 12, he was selected for New South Wales in the under-14 competition. He switched to leg spin at the age of thirteen, and a week after turning 15 he was playing for Petersham's first XI in Sydney Grade Cricket after hitting a string of centuries in the under-16 competition.
Simpson had his first taste of first-class cricket as a slips fieldsman, having previously fielded on the boundary. Coming on as 12th man, Keith Miller casually pointed him to the slips, which in that era was against convention, as substitutes were expected to not field in close catching positions. He took two diving catches to establish his position in the cordon.
First-class debut
He was still 11 days shy of his seventeenth birthday when he was selected to make his Sheffield Shield debut as a middle order batsman for New South Wales against Victoria in the 1952–53 season. He had played only 12 first grade matches prior to this. When he arrived to meet his teammates, Australian vice-captain Arthur Morris asked him where his nappies were.Haigh, p. 191. At the age of 16 years and 354 days,Haigh, p. 28. this made him the second youngest cricketer to be capped for New South Wales, just three months older than teammate Ian Craig when he made his debut. He scored 44 and 8, without being dismissed in either innings. According to Haigh, "Great protectiveness was felt towards such a boy among men." From the last ball of a drawn match, Simpson attempted to run two, but his misjudgment saw him caught short by half the pitch. Nevertheless, umpire Hugh McKinnon turned down the appeal, and after Victorian captain Sam Loxton reacted angrily, the arbiter said "it's the last ball of the game and his first match". Simpson took his maiden wicket during the match, catching Test player Ian Johnson from his own bowling.
Simpson then scored 69 in the next match against South Australia, his only other innings and match for the season. The 1953–54 season was a purely domestic one, with no international team touring. New South Wales were the strongest state at the time with many Test players and won the first of nine consecutive Sheffield Shield titles, and Simpson found it difficult to break into the team at full strength. He played two matches at the start of the season, and two more at the end of the summer; New South Wales won all of these fixtures except the first, which was drawn. Simpson had few opportunities with the bat because of the strong batting line-up; he was only required to bat six times and his two highest innings of 58 and 42 were ended when New South Wales reached their target, leaving him unbeaten. He ended with 147 runs at 36.75, and had more success with the ball, taking 14 wickets at 27.85. Simpson's bowling was prominent in the last two matches; he took 5/37 in the second innings against Western Australia, bowling four of his victims, and then took 4/38 and 2/83 against South Australia as New South Wales won both matches.
The following season in 1954–55, Simpson had more chances in the New South Wales middle order as the Test players were often playing for Australia against the touring English cricket team. However, he failed to make the use of this, scoring only 123 runs in the first seven innings and was in and out of the team. He then struck form against Victoria, scoring 104 of New South Wales' 234. This was pivotal in a low-scoring match as Victoria made only 86 and 158 and helped New South Wales to a nine-wicket win. Simpson's final match of the season was against the Englishmen. He made six in the first innings as both teams made 172. In the second innings, Simpson reached 98, when light drizzle began to fall and English captain Len Hutton decided to engage in mind games by ordering his men to leave the ground even though the umpires had not adjourned the match. When the visitors returned to the field, Simpson feared another rain delay would stop him reaching his century, so he charged English spinner Johnny Wardle and was stumped. Nevertheless, he helped his state to inflict a rare defeat on Hutton's men; they had won the Tests convincingly 3–1 and had otherwise not been beaten on the tour. The end-of-season run-scoring pushed Simpson's tally for the season to 331 at 33.10; he bowled only in the first two matches of the summer, totalling 1/58.
At the start of the 1955–56 season, Simpson was hit in the nose by a bouncer, forcing him to have two operations.Robinson, p. 266. However, he missed only one Shield match against Victoria and played in the remainder of New South Wales' matches, despite the presence of the Test players for the full season, which was purely domestic. Simpson failed to make the most of his opportunities with the bat; in 11 completed innings, he reached 20 on nine occasions, but failed to convert the starts into big scores. His best scores was 79 and 57, and he was dismissed between 20 and 43 seven times. He ended the season with 406 runs at 36.90, and had little success with the ball, taking two wickets at 97.50 at the expensive economy rate of 5.73. Simpson was overlooked for selection for the 1956 tour of England, much to the surprise of English skipper Peter May. Australia lost its third consecutive Ashes tour and in doing so suffered two successive innings defeats, something that it had not suffered for 68 years.
Simpson was under pressure to hold his place in the team, so he moved to Western Australia at the end of the 1955–56 season. At the age of 20, he changed professions from accounting with the Sydney Water Board to journalism, having been given a newspaper editorial post with the Daily News in Perth.Perry, p. 236. During the time, he lived in the house of Fremantle Cricket Club President Bob Ballantine.
Early international career After the 1956 Ashes series, captain Ian Johnson and vice-captain Keith Miller both retired, creating more openings in a struggling national team.Harte, pp. 450–452. After a slow start for his adopted state, Simpson hit form in December, registering a sequence of 75, 97, 26, 96 and 112 not out, the latter two scores coming in a match against Queensland. Towards the end of the season, Simpson was selected for Lindwall's XI for a match against Harvey's XI. These matches were typically used as a selection trial for the 22 strongest players in the country. Simpson failed to make significant impact, scoring 35 and 10, and he ended the season with 572 runs at 47.66. He had another ineffective summer with the ball, taking two wickets at 95.50.
Simpson was one of many young players—eight of whom were uncapped—selected in an Australian side which toured New Zealand under Ian Craig in 1956–57. Australia was in a rebuilding phase and Test selection was at stake.Haigh, p. 104. He scored 263 runs at 43.83 in the first-class matches, including two half-centuries. Simpson played in all three matches against New Zealand, and scored 47, 67, 26 not out, a duck and 8 not out. His 67 was the top-score in the first innings of the second representative match.
In the following season, Simpson was selected for the Test tour of South Africa in 1957–58. Ian Chappell suggests that Simpson was included "mainly for his catching." The young Australian team was derided as the worst to leave Australian shores. In the tour matches leading up to the Tests, Simpson performed consistently. He scored 103 against Transvaal and 53 not out against Eastern Province, and totaled 304 runs at 60.66 in seven matches ahead of the Tests.
Although his form during the Tests was poor, Simpson added 150 against Griqualand West and scored 671 runs at 47.92.
This earned Simpson his debut against South Africa in the First Test at Johannesburg. He compiled 60 in the first innings before being trapped leg before wicket by Hugh Tayfield. He took three catches and scored 23 not out in the second innings. He struggled in the remaining four Tests, with only 53 more runs in the remaining five innings to end with 136 runs at 22.67 in the Tests. His catching form was exceptional, yielding 13 catches in the five Tests and playing a factor in his retention in the team. In all Simpson took 26 catches in 16 matches.Haigh, p. 114. He took two wickets at 64.50 in the first-class matches, and managed 6/61 in a non-first-class match against the South African Country Districts.
Unsatisfied with these performances, he sought the advice of vice-captain Neil Harvey, who advised him that he was playing too square on while defending on the back foot.