Speaking on Time To Talk with Sean Sennett, former Australia captain Ian Chappell said that some advice he received from former Australia head coach Bob Simpson led to a period of him struggling with the short ball.
Simpson is often regarded as one of Australia’s greatest coaches, having led the country to a World Cup title in 1987 and to an Ashes win in England in 1989. However, Chappell termed Simpson, who played 62 Tests and was captain during Chappell’s Test debut, “not a great coach”, pointing to some “shit advice” he gave him during their playing days as evidence.
“I got some shit advice from Bob Simpson when we were in South Africa in ’66/67,” he said. “Simmo was the sort of bloke – and this is why I’ve always said he’s not a great coach. He’s good on slip fielding, and running between the wickets, shit on batting, because he’s one of these blokes that if you don’t bat like him, you’re not doing it the right way.
“He came to me and said ‘Ian, you should give up hooking. I gave up hooking and look what it’s done for me. You’ve got enough shots to score runs without hooking. You should give up hooking.’ It was a shit piece of advice, and unfortunately I heard it. I didn’t give up hooking but I got into a worse state. It was ‘Will I or won’t I?’ which is a worse state to be in. I got into a bit of a mess being half and half.”
