London: Legendary cricketer Vivian Richards has backed suspended coach Phil Simmons for standing up against the ‘rotten’ West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) administration.
The WICB had decided to omit Simmons from the ongoing Sri Lankan tour after the coach went on to publicly criticize the board over team selection last month.
Simmons had alleged that he was denied selecting all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka despite receiving support from chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd.
Reflecting on the issue, Richards said that he was sympathetic towards Simmons and attributed the incident to the failure of ‘ rotten’ administration, the Guardian reported.
The 63-year-old former captain opined that his team too had faced similar sort of off-field problems but insisted that winning games helped eradicate such matters, which is not happening with the current squad.
Since Simmons’ appointment as head coach, West Indies had secured a 1-1 draw against England in the three-match Test series earlier this year. However, they have failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy for the first time.
ANI