The Australian
tour was the first of three Test series arranged in the 1986-87 Indian
season.It produced cricket's second
tied Test match.Unlike the 1960-61
matches against West Indies, this was a series
where the various contentious moments turned into animosity
between the two
sides.Vice-captain David Boon had to
make apologies all round for his long and heated argument with the umpires
over a disputed catch. Tim Zoehrer was observed making an obscene gesture to
an outgoing Indian batsman, and the team was accused of behaving in an
uncouth manner. Border then said he was asking his team to tone down their
behaviour.
Coach
Bob Simpson accused the Indians of several times deliberately slowing down
the over rate, while an Indian newspaper The
Telegraph described him as "an impediment to good sportsmanship".Simpson had been chosen out of a dozen
applicants and began his two-year appointment as Australia's cricket manager by
producing improvements in the side's fitness, fielding and commitment.
After
his marathon innings in the tied Test Dean Jones had to recover from
dehydration in hospital.
Unavailable : Members of the unofficial Australian tour party to South Africa
1986-87 were banned from Test cricket.Players to South
Africa who did not come under
consideration were
T M Alderman, J Dyson, P I
Faulkner, M D Haysman, T G Hogan, R M Hogg, T V Hohns,K M Hughes, R J McCurdy, J N Maguire, C G
Rackemann, S J Rixon, G Shipperd, S B Smith, M D (Matthew) Taylor, K C
Wessels and G N Yallop.
Tour Party Announced:30 April 1986.
Not selected :Graeme Wood;Wayne Phillips (he was fined $A 2000 by the Australian Cricket
Board after calling the selectors 'idiots' for leaving him out of the tour).
Time between selection and departure from Australia
118 days
(30 April - 26 August)
Travel
SydneyQBombay
Border left his county
cricket season with Essex on 19 August and returned to Brisbane in order to prepare for the tour.
The team had a preparatory camp in Brisbane,
guided by Greg Chappell and Ashley Mallett, in the third week of August
Departure was on Tuesday 26 August 1986.The team flew from Sydney and landed at
Bombay’s Sahar Airport
after a 19-hour flight. Next day they flew on to Bangalore
Time spent in India
54 days
(27 August - 20 October)
On-tour selection panel
Allan Border (captain),David Boon (vice-captain),Bob Simpson
(coach).
Reinforcements
None.
Fixtures/Results
a
Bangalore
Board
President's XI
Drawn
b
Gwalior
Bombay(Irani Cup winners)
Drawn
c
§Jaipur
India(1st ODI)
Lost
7 w
d
§Srinagar
India(2nd ODI)
Won 3
w
e
Chandigarh
Indian
under-25 XI
Drawn
f
MADRAS
INDIAFirst Test
TIED
g
§Hyderabad
India(3rd ODI)
Abandoned
h
NEW DELHI
INDIASecondTest
DRAWN
i
§Delhi
India(4th ODI)
Lost
3 w
j
§Ahmedabad
India(5th ODI)
Lost
52 r
k
§Rajkot
India(6th ODI)
Won 7
w
l
Baroda
Delhi(Ranji
Trophy champions)
Drawn
m
BOMBAY
INDIAThird Test
DRAWN
When Jodhpur was not allocated a one-day
international the Cricket Association president went on hunger strike.For the Srinagar match spectators had to register
when buying their tickets to ensure against political demonstrations. The
third one-day match at Hyderabad was abandoned
because of rain and one-dayer arranged for Calcutta
was switched to Delhi.