Tour of India 2000-01             Captain: Steve Waugh

Australia’s seventieth Test tour

(February - April 1999)

Eighth Test-playing tour of India by Australia

The Indian bowling attack was without its best bowler, Anil Kumble, but Harbhajan Singh stepped in with 32 wickets in three matches, including a hat-trick at Chennai.  Yet more than the strength of the Indian attack it was the way that the Indian batting resisted McGrath, Gillespie and Warne that won the series.  This was true of Dighe shepherding India to its third Test target with 22 not out as much as the defiant innings of 281 Laxman played at Calcutta, regarded by the Australians as one of the finest they had ever seen, as India turned a certain loss into victory.

The series is a contender for the best series ever played. India were bowled out for only 171 at Kolkata and followed-on. Dravid (180) and Laxman added 376 together before Australia, unable to hold out for 75 overs, were bowled out by Harbhajan Singh.

The Australians tested ice vests as a way of beating the heat, putting the vests over their shirts during a drinks break. The heat and humidity in Chennai made the back-to-back Tests very trying and several players opted out of the exhibition match before the one-day series began in order to recover.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

New Zealand 1999-00

Next tour

England 2001

Next tour of India

  2004-05  

Members of the Test tour party  (14  +  1)

Opening batsmen  Justin Langer, Michael Slater, Matthew Hayden

Middle-order batsmen: Damien Martyn, Ricky Ponting Mark Waugh, Stephen Waugh

Wicket-keeper  Adam Gilchrist  (Brad Haddin added as cover)

Spin bowlers  Shane Warne, Colin Miller

Fast bowlers: Damien Fleming, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Glenn McGrath.

State representation

 Pura Cup teams

NSW   New South Wales (3)

Qld  Queensland (2)

SA   South Australia (1)

Tas   Tasmania (1)

Vic   Victoria  (3)

WA  Western Australia (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(27 February 2001) :

   30  yrs  11 months

ODI -  member of squad for Pepsi one-day series

Test Appearances made before the tour

S Waugh 132,  M Waugh 108,  Warne 84,  Slater 67,  McGrath 67,  Ponting 39,  Langer 38,  Fleming 19,  Gillespie 18,  Miller 17,  Kasprowicz 16,  Gilchrist 14,  Hayden 13;  Haddin 0.

Tour Officials

A long-serving policeman in Brisbane, Reg Dickason ran a Brisbane company called Business Loss Prevention. He  was on his fourth tour with the Australian side after two to Sri Lanka and one to Pakistan. He was present for all security matters but would also ensure Mark Waugh would be dealt with fairly if interviewed by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation over match-fixing.

From November 2000 Jock Campbell was the Strength and Conditioning Coach (also called Physical Performance Manager) for the Australian cricket team until November 2005.

Selectors

Trevor Hohns  (chairman),  David Boon,  Allan Border and Andrew Hilditch,  in consultation with captain Steve Waugh.

David Boon became a member of the national selection panel on 13 Dec 2000 in place of Geoff Marsh (Marsh had resigned as Australia’s coach on 24 August 1999, and became a selector in 99-00)

Selection

Adam Gilchrist was named as the new Australian vice-captain on 4 August 2000.

Unavailable:  Brett Lee (needing surgery on his right elbow) was ruled out of the tour on 5 February.

Tour Party Announced :  8 February 2001.

Michael Kasprowicz, who had played a single first-class match for Queensland in the season after recovering from shoulder surgery, was recalled in the absence of Brett Lee.

Not selected :   Andy Bichel,  Nathan Bracken,  Simon Katich,  Stuart MacGill.

Limited-overs squad announced :  10 March 2001.

Michael Bevan, Nathan Bracken, Ian Harvey, Darren Lehmann and Andrew Symonds would take over from the Test-only players (Michael Slater, Justin Langer, Colin Miller, Michael Kasprowicz and Matthew Hayden).

Time between selection and departure from Australia

       5 days

(8 February  - 13 February)

Travel

Melbourne  Q  Mumbai Q  Nagpur

The team flew out of Melbourne on Tuesday 13 February and landed at Mumbai on 14 February 2001. The team spent the night at the Hotel Orchid, before taking an evening flight to Nagpur on Thursday.

At the hotel press conference the captain donated a cheque of $A 165,000 on behalf of the Australian Cricket Board towards the relief fund for the earthquake victims in Gujarat. The Australians later played a benefit match in Chennai for the same cause.

The one-day players left Sydney on Saturday 17 March and arrived in Mumbai late on Sunday night. Nathan Bracken's departure was delayed because he mislaid his passport; he flew from Sydney to Chennai on 21 March. Andrew Symonds injured his right shoulder by slipping off an ice cooler he was using to reach up to some playing gear stored at home and needed a final fitness check before flying out the next day.

Time spent in India

   52 days

(14 February - 7 April 2001)

On-tour selection

 Steve Waugh (captain),  John Buchanan  (coach),  Adam Gilchrist  (vice-captain).

Reinforcements

Brad Haddinflew to India on 5 March to cover for Adam Gilchrist who suffered an abductor muscle strain in the hip in training. Haddin played the match at Delhi and remained with the team during the Kolkata Test as insurance against Gilchrist breaking down.

Jason Gillespie antagonised an old injury to his left ankle, and dropped out of the one-day squad. Michael Kasprowicz  who was originally due to fly home with the Test players, was asked to remain with the ODI tour party before it was decided that Shane Lee would fly in to Mumbai on 26 March to join the ODI squad.

Matthew Hayden, too, was added (on 21 March) to the one-day squad after not being initially selected, and he ended up as Man of the Series.

Fitness trainer Jock Cameron and Australian veterans Greg Matthews and Ray Phillips, as well as D Fordan, were all drafted into the side to play in the exhibition match at Chennai.

Fixtures/Results

Calcutta was officially renamed in 2001 as Kolkata to match the Bengali pronunciation.

† not first-class

§  one-day international in Pepsi series

Time spent in India before First Test:     13 days

(14 February - 27 February)

Test appearances on tour

3  -   Gilchrist,  Gillespie,  Hayden,  Langer,  McGrath,  Ponting,  Slater,  Warne,  M Waugh,  S Waugh

1  -   Fleming,  Kasprowicz,  Miller.

0  -   Haddin,  Martyn.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

⊕ T/20 international

∙  played for opposition

 W won  L lost  D drawn   N no result   A abandoned   u unknown result

Australia’s six previous Test tour results:

in New Zealand 1999-00 (3 Tests)

 - won 3-0

in Zimbabwe 1999-00 (1 Test)

 - won 1-0

in Sri Lanka 1999-00 (3 Tests)

 - lost 0-1

in West Indies 1999 (4 Tests)

 - drawn 2-2

in Pakistan 1998-99 (3 Tests)

 - won 1-0

in India 1997-98 (3 Tests)

 - lost 1-2

Highlights

•   Shane Warne took 4 for 47 in the first innings at Mumbai but otherwise only six wickets in the series.

•   Adam Gilchrist hit 122, his century coming off 84 balls, the second fastest by an Australian.

•   Steve Waugh (110) put on 113 for the ninth wicket with Gillespie at Kolkata

•   Matthew Hayden, having already struck a century (119) at Mumbai, scored 97 and 67 at Kolkata

•   Hayden completed his series with a double century (203) at Chennai, making 549 runs for the series.

•   McGrath’s figures were 3-19, 2-25, 4-18, 3-103, 3-75 and 2-21, producing an average of 15.

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Mumbai  Q  Sydney 

Brad Haddin returned home after the Kolkata Test match.

On Saturday 24 March Test match players Michael Kasprowicz, Colin Miller, Michael Slater and Justin Langer returned to Australia from Chennai.  Jason Gillespie (injured) accompanied them.

On 7 April the ODI squad left India, flying from Mumbai to Sydney.

Time away from Australia  

54 days  

(13 February - 8 April)

Finances

…..

Written accounts of the tour

……..

Postscript

John Buchanan had to meet with with Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed after making frank criticisms of Shane Warne's fitness leading into the third Test of the Indian series.

The I C C decided that from 1 May 2001 all ten Test-playing countries would play home and away against each other during a five-year period. The results would be used to make the new I C C Test rankings.