The tour, England's ninth official series in the West Indies, was the first to be sponsored by Cable
& Wireless. Four members of the team - Gooch, Emburey, Taylor and Willey
- were chosen for their first tours with England
since their three-year bans for taking part in the rebel tour matches in South Africa.
Anticipating that
these selections might lead to political interference and cause cancellation
of the tour, the Pakistan
and West Indian Boards made contingency plans for Pakistan to stand ready to tour
instead. The T.C.C.B. deplored this arrangement.
Gooch would not at
first accept a place in the England tour party, following demands that he
clarify to the West Indies governments his views on South Africa. When England
arrived, noisy demonstrations had no effect on the matches but the political
pressure upset Gooch. Later, after a statement by the Antiguan Prime
Minister, Lester Bird, he threatened to go home early. Only four days before
the final Test match David Gower and Donald Carr of the TCCB managed to
persuade him to remain with the team and play in the Test.
England lost all five Test matches in a second
“blackwash” against West Indies, as had happened in England in
1984, as well as losing the one-day series.
Opening batsmen:Graham Gooch, David Smith, Tim Robinson,
Middle-order batsmenMike Gatting, David Gower,
Allan Lamb, Peter Willey
Wicket-keeper: Paul Downton, Bruce French
All-rounders:Ian Botham
Slow bowlers: Phil Edmonds, John Emburey
Fast
bowlers: Neil Foster, Greg Thomas, Les Taylor, Richard Ellison.
I
TBotham
Sm
30
RHBRFM
P
RDownton
Mx
28
WK
P
HEdmonds
Mx
34
SLA
R
MEllison
Kt
26
RFM
J EEmburey
Mx
33
OB
N
AFoster
Ex
23
RFM
B
NFrench
Nt
26
reserve WK
M WGatting
Mx
28
RHB(RM)
G
AGooch
Ex
32
RHB opener(RM)
D
IGower
Le
28
LHB
A
JLamb
Nth
31
RHB
R
TRobinson
Nt
27
RHB
D
MSmith
Wo
30
RHB
L
BTaylor
Le
32
RFM
J
GThomas
Gm
25
RF
PWilley
Le
36
RHB(OB)
County representation:
Ex-Essex (2)
Gm - Glamorgan (1)
Kt-Kent (1)
Le- Leicestershire (3)
Mx - Middlesex (4)
Nth - Northamptonshire (1)
Nt - Nottinghamshire (2)
Sm - Somerset (1)
Wo - Worcestershire (1)
Average age ofteam at time of first Test match
(21 February 1986):
29 yrs 8
months
Test
Appearances made before the tour
Botham
79, Gower 76, Gooch 48, Gatting 41, Lamb 38, Edmonds 33, Emburey 28, Downton 21, Willey 21, Robinson 11, Foster 9, Ellison 7, Taylor 2, French 0, Slack 0, Smith 0, Thomas 0.
Tour
Officials
Tony Brown
Tour manager
Bob Willis
Assistant manager
Laurie Brown
Physiotherapist
Peter Austin
Scorer
Tony Brown was named as manager on 9 August ; and Bob Willis as
assistant manager on 16 September.
The physiotherapist,
Laurie Brown of Lancashire, was formerly
with Manchester United Football Club.
Peter Austin, the
Warwickshire scorer, was injured when he fell down an uncovered manhole in Antigua near the end of the tour. He was immediately
flown back to hospital in England.
Selectors
The selectors
who met at Lord's on the morning of 19 September werePeter May (chairman), Alec Bedser, Phil Sharpe, Alan Smith, Tony Brown (manager), David Gower (captain), Charles Palmer (chairman of the TCCB), Douglas Insole (Chairman of Cricket,
Overseas Tours) and Donald Carr (Secretary
of TCCB).
Selection
David Gower was appointed captain on 15 August 1985, the first
day of the Edgbaston Test against Australia.
Unavailable :none.
Tour party announced :20September 1985.
Official stand-bys : Neil Radford
and Dipak Patel of Worcestershire.
Graham Gooch did not accept his place in the team until 16
October.
Greg Thomas was selected subject to a fitness test because of
ankle, hip and hamstring injuries.
Time between selection and departure from England
128 days
(20 September - 26 January)
Travel
LondonQx
26 January 1986.
Time spent in the West
Indies
82 days
(26
January -18 April)
On-tour
selection panel
David Gower (captain), Mike Gatting (vice-captain), Bob Willis
(assistant manager), Gooch (senior player).
Reinforcements
W N
Slack
Mx
21
RHB
Wilf Slack arrived
in Trinidad from the England
'B' team tour, to replace Mike Gatting,
who returned home for an operation on his nose after being hit by a Marshall bouncer in the
first one-day international. Gooch was promoted to vice-captain.
The day after Gatting's return to the West Indies on 13 March, his thumb was broken.
Peter
Willey returned home after damaging his right knee in training and
missed the fifth Test match.