Thread by @senantix

Thread:
Bobby Simpson born 3 Feb 1936.
3664 runs as an opening batsman, averaging 55.51.
#cricket #onthisday

Take a cut-off of 3000 runs for openers, and this is the order of merit - Sutcliffe, 4522 at 61.10; Hutton 6721 at 56.47; Hobbs 5130 at 56.37; and then there is Simpson, way ahead of the rest of the field.

There are Amiss, Hayden, etc who follow after this ...
If the bar is reduced to 2000 runs, Bruce Mitchell and Bill Woodfull come in ... Right, if you are missing a name you need to keep looking further down the list ..

Simpson played fierce attacks.
Heine and Adcock, Trueman and Statham, Peter Pollock and Procter, Hall and Griffith... Without helmet, in case you are wondering.

But Simpson was much more than just an opening batsman.
He was a canny captain as well, in two different phases.

He was also a good enough leg-spinner to capture 71 Test wickets.
And a slip catcher with few equals. 110 catches in his 62 Tests.
#rarecricketphotos

In fact, in his first series, he caught 13, several of them half chances, including this brilliant one that gave Lindsay Kline his hattrick.
He became famous as Robert Simpson the slip fielder. Bobby the great batsman and captain came a lot later.
#rarecricketphotos

If he had not been hauled back to lead a Packer-depleted Australia at the age of 42, his final figures would have been still better.

But in the first 5 comeback Tests, against India, he scored 539 runs at 53.00, outscoring batsmen from both sides. Significant given the Indian 'big guns' were facing a third-string Australian attack. He led a limping Australia to a 3-2 series win.

He was a saviour in other ways too. Coach Simpson teamed up with skipper Allan Border, took hold of a struggling team under reconstruction and turned them into a bunch of champions who would rule the world for years to come.

Bobby Simpson, Australian legend, was born on #onthisday 1936.