Afghanistan Coach Resigning After World Cup

Afghanistan Coach Resigning After World Cup

Afghanistan Coach Resigning After World Cup

Afghanistan Coach Phil Simmons announced that he would not renew his contract after World Cup ends.

Former West Indies Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons stated that he is not renewing his contract with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) once it expires on July 17 after the ICC Cricket World Cup ends.

“I have thought about it and I have actually given the ACB my notice that I will not be renewing my contract,” said Simmons to ESPNcricinfo.

“I signed up originally for 18 months and I think I have done a lot in this period. It is time for me to move on to something else now. To want to get to the World Cup—that was ACB’s goal at the time they appointed me,” Simmons said upon achieving his goal of taking the minnows to the 50-over showpiece.

Simmons further explained that he thinks he helped his players into improving a lot over time as the coach.

“My goal is always to leave things better than when I joined: the way we practise, the way we think about the game, the way we assess other teams. I’ve tried to help the players in all those areas.”

Simmons announced his decision to resign after ACB’s change in leadership in Test, ODI, and T20I which ended Asghar Afghan’s captaincy in all formats. The new captains are Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin Naib, and Rashid Khan for Test, ODI, and T20I respectively.

“No, I was not aware of it. I was not given any reasons. It was the decision of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the selectors.”

However, Simmons explained that he just wants to prepare his team for this change in leadership.

“How can I take it? I can’t change it. So I have to just get on with what I have to do and make sure the squad is preparing in the same way I wanted them to prepare barring the (captaincy) change.”

With the former all-rounder as coach, the Afghanistan team clinched a berth in the 10-team World Cup after beating West Indies in the final of a qualifying tournament in 2016. Furthermore, he guided the team at their debut in Test cricket in 2017 when they beat Ireland in a full series.

Afghanistan will play their first match at the World Cup on June 6 against Australia.

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