Dawes to replace Simons

Outgoing bowling coach Eric Simons on Tuesday clarified that severing ties with the Indian cricket team was a mutual arrangement between him and the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

According to a BCCI release, the South African, who took over as India’s bowling coach on January 10, 2010 will be replaced by Australian Joe Dawes after the on-going triangular series.

“The fact of the matter is my contract was coming to an end before the England tour. Duncan (Fletcher, the India coach) asked me to stay on. I had made it clear then and there itself that I cannot go beyond the tour to Australia,” Simons, who was roped in by Fletcher’s predecessor Gary Kirsten, said after India’s tie with Sri Lanka at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.
      
Simons, who has been appointed as Delhi Daredevils coach, said he had taken the decision keeping in mind family commitments, and termed some reports about him being sacked as rubbish.

“Extending my term would have meant I would have been away from home for two years. And I wanted to spend enough time with my family. So, all this talk of me being sacked is utter rubbish,” Simons said.

“Eric has been brilliant,” skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said. “He has been with us for quite some time now. He knows our culture and how we work, and he understands each and every bowler.

“We had a good experience with him, and hopefully the new bowling coach does equally good. On contract and stuff like that, it is between BCCI and him. Hopefully, he will come back at some point of time.”

Dawes played 76 first-class matches for Queensland between 1997 and 2005. However, his career was cut short by a knee injury following which he took up to coaching.