West Indies part ways with coach Simmons

Phil Simmons has been fired as head coach of the West Indies, six months after guiding the team to the World T20 title.

The West Indies Cricket Board said "differences in culture and strategic approach" were behind the decision to terminate Simmons' contract after 18 months in charge, with those differences "based on the public pronouncements of the coach and the approach internally''.

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Simmons was briefly suspended last September for questioning the country's selection policy, after Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard were omitted from West Indies' ODI squad for a series in Sri Lanka. He was reinstated two months later after apologising.

In April, the former batting allrounder called on the Board to review its policy on play availability with an eye to the tri-series with Australia and South Africa.

 "There has been talk already that players who did not come back and play in the (West Indies domestic) Super50 won't be selected (for ODI cricket)," Simmons told ESPNCricinfo at the time. "But you are talking about seven or eight of the best players in the world.

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"We have seen what all of them can do in the World T20 and we have seen what they can do in 50-over cricket.

"In order for us to not be scrambling to qualify for the next World Cup, we need to be winning and moving up the table.

" ... so going forward perhaps that is another area we can review."

Team manager Joel Garner and coaches Henderson Springer and Roddy Estwick will take charge of the team for its upcoming T20 matches against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.