Kabul: Former West Indies all-rounder Phil Simmons has been appointed as the new coach of the Afghanistan national team, as was announced on Monday.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board took to Twitter to announce the development.
“@ACBofficials Appoints Mr. Phillip Simmons @Coachsim13 As the Head Coach of the Afghanistan National Cricket Team,” read the tweet.
Simmons had called it a day on his cricketing career and after that he has been involved in coaching spells with Ireland, Zimbabwe and the West Indies. He would thus succeed Lalchand Rajput, as the coach of the team that got it’s Test status last year.
After coaching Zimbabwe from 2004-2005, Simmons was appointed as the coach of Ireland and it was under him that the European country improved it’s position in international cricket. Succeeding Adrian Birell as the coach of the Irish national side after the 2007 World Cup, Simmons helped the nation qualify for every major ICC tournament and also won 11 trophies with them. Not only that, but it was under him at the helm of affairs when Ireland defeated England in the 2011 World Cup and West Indies in the 2015 edition of ICC’s marquee tournament. His stint with Ireland lasted for 224 days, which made him the longest serving coach in international cricket.
He then went on to coach the West Indies after the 2015 World Cup and led them to the World T20 title in 2016.
Earlier in 2017, he worked as the batting consultant of the Afghanistan national team and now, with him being a full-time coach of the side, the war-torn nation, which has already taken the cricketing world by storm would be hugely benefitted, especially in the preparations for their maiden Test match against India, scheduled to be held this year.
His first assignment with the team would be in February itself when Afghanistan competes against Zimbabwe in a limited overs’ series in Sharjah.