Simmons steps down as Windies coach after Cup exit

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has apologised for his team's "heart-wrenching" and "unfathomable" early T20 World Cup exit, and will step down as the team's coach, but only after the coming two-Test tour of Australia.

The West Indies, two-times winners of the T20 World Cup, were bundled out in the first round after losses to Scotland and Ireland, finishing bottom of Group B.

With a Super 12 spot up for grabs, the Windies could only muster 5-146 in Hobart, a total Ireland chased down for the loss of just one wicket.

Cricket West Indies today announced the coming two-Test NRMA Insurance series with Australia in Perth and Adelaide would be Simmons' last as head coach.

"I acknowledge that it's not just the team that is hurting but the proud nations we represent as well," Simmons said in a statement.

"It's disappointing and heart wrenching but we just didn't turn up. We weren't good enough and we now have to watch a tournament play-out without our involvement.

"It's unfathomable and for that I deeply apologise to our fans and followers."

Simmons said he had enjoyed "aspects" of the "unique challenge" of being Windies coach, but that he had been considering stepping down before the World Cup blowout.

"From a personal perspective this is not a knee jerk reaction, but a move I have been considering for some time and now is the time to make public that I will step down as West Indies head coach at the end of the Test series against Australia," Simmons said.

"It is earlier than hoped for, but I will now focus my energies in Australia on continuing to build on the excellent progress the Test team has made."

Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt promised a "thorough post-mortem" in launching a scathing broadside at the players following their exit, blaming the batters' shot selection and play against spin.

"The ongoing inability of our batsmen to prevail over opposing slow bowling continued to be an obvious weakness in Australia, and untimely shot selections seem to be deeply embedded in the T20 batting culture of our senior team," Skerritt said in the wake of their exit.

Simmons was at the helm in 2016 when the Windies won their second men's T20 World Cup title defeating England at Eden Gardens in Kolkata with that memorable Carlos Brathwaite final over against Ben Stokes.

Earlier this year he guided the team's fortunes in their hard-fought 1-0 Test series win over England on home soil to capture the Richards-Botham Trophy.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting this week lamented their demise, saying it was a "disgrace" and "so bad for their cricket".

"They've got too much talent in that team and in West Indies cricket not to be able to make it through to the next stage of a World Cup," Ponting said earlier this week.

"And even one of their main players not making it to the flight to get over here for a World Cup... To me this sort of sums up probably how little these events mean to the West Indies players and if you look at the way that they played you'd say the same thing.

"(Captain Nicholas) Pooran and these guys, they're much better players than what we've seen over the last couple of weeks so no doubt there'll be some soul-searching done when they get back."

The Windies had earlier announced the bulk of their squad had returned to the Caribbean for a fortnight to play in their domestic 50-over tournament, while some Test specialists had remained in Australia ahead of the NRMA Insurance series. 

Nov 30 – Dec 4: First Test, Perth Stadium, 10:20am

Dec 8-12: Second Test, Adelaide Oval, 2:30pm

Buy #AUSvWI Test tickets here