Having accomplished "mission impossible'' in the Caribbean, and with his 60th birthday and the end of his contract coming up at about the same time next year, one might expect Bobby Simpson's reign as Australian cricket coach to be drawing to a close.

But the man who has guided Australia to the top of world cricket insisted yesterday that he wasn't thinking about retirement -- despite the illness he suffered in Barbados where he was taken to hospital suffering from thrombosis.

Instead he is already setting his sights on the upcoming home series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the end of the year, the triangular series involving Sri Lanka and the West Indies and the World Cup which follows in early 1996 in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

"I've got 12 months more on my contract and haven't thought about retirement at this stage,'' said Simpson as he prepared for a round of golf at Mid Ocean, to be followed by a coaching session later in the day with the Bermuda national team.

Even here, on his third trip to Bermuda with the Australian team, Simpson is hardly taking it easy, and he anticipates another busy season back home.

"We've got the World Cup in February/March and all my energies when I get home after a bit of a holiday will be devoted towards that,'' said Simpson, who has coached the Aussies since 1986.

"We've still got three Test matches against Pakistan coming up and three against Sri Lanka, so we've got a full home season. But I don't find it stressful at all.

"The problem I had in Barbados can happen to anyone who travels extensively and a blood clot is becoming more and more prevalent as we travel more and more by air. So whether I was 59 or 29, I could still get this type of thing.

It was just a setback insomuch as I was never ill with it.'' Simpson's tour looked threatened when he was taken to hospital during the Barbados Test.

But he admits he was hardly able to contain himself while lying in bed listening to the match on the radio as Australia recorded victory inside three days.

"The frustration is you can never take any risks with a blood clot so I had to spend time in hospital just being medicated, at the same time feeling totally frustrated about not being out there with the team. I always felt well enough to be there.'' It was the fourth tour of the Caribbean for Simpson as either a player or coach and the first time he has finished on a winning team.

In 1978 he came out of retirement at the age of 41 to lead Australia in the West Indies after the team had been stripped of its top players by the just introduced Kerry Packer World Series back home.

His return was brief but he was to rejoin the squad in 1986 as coach, taking over a team in the doldrums and quickly turning them into a force in both one-day and Test matches and winners of the World Cup in 1987.

"Obviously at this stage I'm delighted with the performances of the side,'' said Simpson, who played in 62 Tests, 39 as captain.

"They've had a good record since I've been coach of the side,'' he added proudly. "They were absolutely in the doldrums. We've won a World Cup, retained the Ashes, beaten the West Indies... not bad.

"We had to get a personnel change to get the right attitude, we had to go into a work ethic situation and the first three years were tough years. We've got a greater depth of players now, players who know more about the game and are better equipped to handle it.'' Unlike the West Indies, who seem to be having problems replacing some of their senior players, namely openers Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, the Aussies have made a smooth transition to a new era.

From the last team that toured here in '91 only five players remain. Craig McDermott would have been the sixth but injury forced him home from the Caribbean.

But even without their main strike bowler Australia prevailed over the previously invincible West Indies and now Simpson would like to build on that success.

Talk about being world champions doesn't faze Simpson who knows the team has much to prove in the months and years to come. "I'm not overly concerned about being the world champions,'' he insisted.

"All my endeavours will be winning the next Test series because that's all that counts. What's behind is gratifying but what's coming up is all that matters now.

"I think too much has been made of the world champions. The only time you can have a world champion in Test cricket is if the same teams meet together in the same conditions. We haven't played India in Test cricket in India for 10 years. Whatever people want to call us, we think we're the best team around at present.'' Simpson didn't hesitate to disclose the key to his team's success in the Caribbean, the first time for a visiting team there since Ian Chappell's 1973 squad.

"We had our own tactics, we researched and studied and knew the best way to bowl every batsman and stuck to that plan,'' said the coach.

"No team has bowled better to a plan than our team in the West Indies and we just put pressure on them that they couldn't withstand.'' As Steve Waugh showed in Jamaica with his double century the best way to be successful against the West Indies pacemen is to be positive.

"Their pace barrage is not as good as it used to be, for a start,'' Simpson insisted. "Curtley Ambrose has dropped a lot of pace and they haven't got the reserve back-up that they used to. We played them well.

"We believed we could win anywhere in the Caribbean. We believed they would go quickly if we got on top and we were very confident when we went to the Caribbean that we would achieve victory.

"For the last three years they have been stumbling over the line and have had some miraculous recoveries and victories. That miracle has finally come to an end.'' G'DAY -- Australia's cricket coach Bob Simpson enjoys a round of golf at Mid Ocean Club yesterday. Fourteen players from the touring party took on a team of Bermuda golfers in a hastily-arranged challenge match.