WA Cricket joins the cricket community in mourning the passing of Robert ‘Bob’ Simpson AO, one of Australian cricket’s most revered figures.
Simpson, a much-respected player and coach, made his Sheffield Shield debut for New South Wales in 1953 at the age of 16.
He moved to Western Australia ahead of the 1956-57 season, having accepted an invitation to play for the Fremantle Cricket Club. He notched scores of 97 and 96 against New South Wales and Queensland respectively in his first season in the West.
He became Australia’s 209th Test cricketer during the tour of South Africa in 1957-1958 and scored 60 and an unbeaten 23 in the drawn first Test at Johannesburg.
Three half-centuries in his first three outings of the following summer’s Sheffield Shield season saw him recalled for the second Ashes Test in Melbourne in the 1958-59 series.
It was the 1959-60 season where Simpson had the most profound impact for Western Australia.
After scoring 98 opening the batting in the first game of the season against Victoria, Simpson produced a stunning all-round performance against New South Wales in his next outing. Simpson scored an unbeaten 236 in an imposing first innings score of 4-487. He then took five second innings wickets to help steer the side to an innings victory over the six-time reigning Sheffield Shield champions. He would then go on to score another unbeaten double century in the following match against Queensland, which WA also won by an innings. Simpson also registered scores of 161 and 98 in an innings defeat at the hands of New South Wales later in the season.
Strong form in the early stages of the 1960-61 season saw him recalled for Australian duty for the series against the West Indies. Simpson’s critical knocks of 75 and 92 in the fifth and deciding Test match saw Australia to victory by two wickets and a 2-1 series win.
Simpson returned to New South Wales ahead of the 1961-62 season and would go on to become Australia’s 30th Test captain in 1963. He finished his time in WA with an imposing 2074 runs at an average 74 and took 34 wickets at an average of 31.
Following a career of 62 Test matches that yielded 4869 runs at an average of 46.81 and 71 wickets at an average of 42.26, Simpson was inducted to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. He was subsequently inducted to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2006 and the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2013.