Cricket/Appointment of Ireland coach: Phil Simmons, the former West Indian Test player, will take over as the next coach of the Ireland team if his financial terms can be met by the Irish Cricket Union.
Simmons emerged from a field of five as the preferred candidate to take over from the current coach, South African Adrian Birrell, following the World Cup in the Caribbean next March. Birrell gave notice of his intention to quit the post for family reasons at the conclusion of the tournament.
However, a source from within the ICU suggested that money may yet be a stumbling block and talks between Simmons' agent and the ICU are at a delicate stage. A spokesman for the governing body said that the two parties were "a million miles away" in their judgment as to the coach's worth and said that no formal announcement will be made until next week at the earliest. The finance committee of the ICU met last night to discuss the coach's financial request and to assess their response.
If the money men can agree a fee, Simmons would be a high-profile appointment for Irish cricket. Until August 2005, the 43-year-old Trinidadian was the coach for the Zimbabwe national squad, ironically Ireland's group stage opponents in the upcoming World Cup. He was sacked from the post in controversial circumstances following the country's loss of its Test-playing status and has been living in London from where he has publicly claimed he is still owed money from the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.
Further controversy followed comments he made last May when he criticised his successor as Zimbabwe coach, Kevin Curren, suggesting that his former charges entered a series against West Indies under-prepared.
As a player Simmons was a hard hitting all-rounder, whose Test career statistics failed to do him justice. Between 1989 and 1990 he represented West Indies in 26 Tests, scoring 1,002 runs at an average of 22.26 runs per innings. But it was in the one-day game that Simmons excelled, playing 143 times for his country.
Domestically, his best year came in 1996 when he helped take his county side Leicestershire to the County Championship scoring 1,244 runs and taking 56 wickets. He was named as Wisden cricketer of the year in 1997.
If he takes the job, Simmons will be invited to the World Cup as an observer by current coach Birrell in a move designed to provide continuity to team affairs.
Ireland enter a critical period of World Cricket League games in Kenya after Christmas before moving on to play UAE in Abu Dhabi and then on to Jamaica. Results in Kenya will determine the team's future involvement in the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup, to be held in South Africa in September 2007.
