West Indies coach Simmons suspended

West Indies coach Phil Simmons has been suspended and replaced for next month's tour of Sri Lanka after publicly questioning the make-up of the one-day international squad.

Simmons will not travel with the team for the Sri Lanka tour, which begins with a Test in Galle on October 14, and will be replaced by Eldine Baptiste, a member of the West Indies Cricket Board's selection panel.

A statement from the WICB said: "The management of the WICB has taken action to suspend the Head Coach, pending an investigation into the issue."

Simmons made the comments at the end of a player camp in Barbados on Friday, reportedly saying there was "too much interference from outside" in the selection of the ODI squad after allrounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard – whose services are in high demand in Twenty20 leagues around the world – failed to make the one-day international squad.

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He did not say where the interference was coming from.

"I think it's disappointing from the fact that I haven't got the best 50-over ODI squad that we can select in the Caribbean," Simmons, who took over as coach after the World Cup at the end of March, said.

Image Id: ~/media/A89EB1B62F8A45A1B049E8971DA5E233

Bravo and Pollard celebrate a win // Getty Images

"The chairman, Mr Lloyd, he came and he gave an exceptional speech saying that he thinks it is time they are back in the squad and he gave exceptional reasons for them being back in the squad."

"Unfortunately, when we went into the selection (meeting) we lost it 2-3.

"Him and myself – the captain doesn't have a vote in this – but the captain also gave his views as why they need to be back.

"That's not the disappointing fact, the disappointing fact is that you can lose 3-2 in a vote-off but there is too much interference from outside in the selection of the ODI squad and it's disappointing for me to know that in any aspect of life (people would use) their position to get people into a squad or in this case, get people left out of a squad.

"It is wrong and I don't like it and that is my beef with the selection of the ODI team."

Bravo was sacked as captain in December last year, replaced by new skipper Jason Holder.

Both Bravo and Pollard also were dropped for the ODI series against South Africa in January and subsequently left out of West Indies' World Cup squad.

The ODI series in Sri Lanka will start on November 1, at the end of the two-Test series.