Craig Joseph Simmons (born 1 December 1982) is an Australian former professional cricketer. He played domestically for Western Australia, New South Wales, Perth Scorchers and Adelaide Strikers. At grade cricket level, he plays for Rockingham-Mandurah in the WACA district competition, having previously played for Fremantle in WACA district matches and Gordon in Sydney Grade Cricket matches.^[1] A left-handed batsman, Simmons represented the Australian national under-19 side at the 2002 Under-19 World Cup, playing seven matches.^[2] At the tournament, he scored 155 runs from 115 balls against Kenya's under-19 team, contributing to Australia's total of 6/480 from 50 overs and eventual win by 430 runs.^[3]

Simmons made his first-class debut for Western Australia in December 2003, against Victoria at the WACA Ground in Perth.^[4] He transferred to New South Wales for the 2005–06 season, and regularly played ING Cup matches, as well as top-scoring for New South Wales in the final of the inaugural KFC Twenty20 Big Bash season, which the team lost to Victoria.^[5] Playing only twice at state level the following season, Simmons' Cricket NSW contract was not renewed for the 2007–08 season, and he subsequently returned to Western Australia,^[6] breaking into the side for a small number of games during the 2008–09 and 2011–12 seasons.^[7]

After good form for Rockingham-Mandurah at district level, Simmons replaced the injured Liam Davis in the Perth Scorchers' squad for the 2013–14 Big Bash League season.^[8] In his fourth game for the Scorchers, against the Adelaide Strikers in mid-January 2014, Simmons scored a century from 39 balls, breaking the record for the fastest Big Bash League century; a record that would not be matched until 11 years later when Mitchell Owen of the Hobart Hurricanes tied it during the 2024-25 final.^[9][10] He was dismissed shortly after, finishing with 102 runs from 41 balls, with his innings including eight fours and eight sixes.^[11] In the team's semi-final against the Sydney Sixers, Simmons scored another century, 112 runs from 58 balls.^[12] He thus became the first player to score two centuries in Big Bash League matches,^[13] and also equalled Chris Gayle's competition record of eleven sixes in a match.^[14] As of that match, he has a strike rate of 176.51 runs per 100 balls, the best of any player who has faced over 125 balls in the competition.^[15] He subsequently signed for the Adelaide Strikers for the 2014–15 and the 2015–16 BBL seasons.