Riley: I am not a harsh man

BARBADOS Cricket Association (BCA) president Conde Riley, who called for Phil Simmons to be fired, said he was unaware that the West Indies coach was permitted to leave the team’s camp in England to attend the funeral of his father-in-law.

West Indies are currently in England preparing for a three-match Test series bowling off on July 8.

Simmons was given approval to leave the bio-secure environment in England to attend the funeral before the tour began and the process was managed by Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The BCA president said on Sunday he heard on the radio in Barbados that Simmons went to a funeral, but was not informed that Simmons was granted permission.

At that time, Riley wrote a letter to CWI saying, “if it is true” that he left the camp for a funeral it was “reckless” and “endangered the players” and that he should be removed as coach.

“We had three (board) meetings prior to the team leaving for England and at no time during those meetings we were made aware that Phil’s father-in-law had died,” Riley told Newsday.

CWI president Ricky Skerritt, talking with journalists, on Zoom, on Wednesday, said, “I want to use this opportunity to assure West Indies cricket fans and cricket lovers everywhere that Phil Simmons still has the full backing of CWI behind him no matter what has been said and when all is said and done Phil’s job is not in any way threatened by that said letter.”

Simmons was in isolation for five days when he returned to the West Indies camp on Thursday.

CWI said Simmons underwent covid19 tests since returning from the funeral and they were negative.

Skerritt said all players and staff while on tour are allowed compassionate leave.

Simmons said this is a trying time for his family and he had to be there for his family.

“This was an occasion where I had to do what was right for my family, just as I would do what is right for CWI for the rest of this series.”

Riley said, “The optics may seem as though that I am a harsh, callous man. I am not. My mom passed at 90, my God mom who is alive now, she is 96. I know how it is when you have people that pass and how you feel.”

Shortly after Riley sent the letter to the CWI president, vice-president Dr Kishore Shallow and the management, he was told by someone on the CWI medical panel that it was an oversight that board members were not informed of the death of Simmons’ father-in-law.

“Had I known that and that the medical panel had given him the permission I would not have reacted in the way that I did…I am not the kind of person that would want to take someone’s job away. But as I said, if it was true that he had left the bubble without permission and returning back into that environment is why I said he should be removed.”

Riley said it was nothing personal against Simmons although it was made to look that way.

The Barbados Cricket Association supported former president Dave Cameron at the CWI elections in 2019. Cameron lost and was replaced by Skerritt.

Riley said this latest situation has nothing to do with the BCA’s support for Cameron in the last elections.

“The whole process was a democratic one and Skerritt won it through that process so we won’t be upset about that, we move on.”

Riley said he told Skerritt after he won the election that “cricket is not about him, it is not about me, it is not about Cameron.

“It is about what we put in place to continue the development and move us from the bottom of the ICC (International Cricket Council) rankings.”