Tour of West Indies 2002-03              Captain: Steve Waugh

Australia’s 74th Test tour

(April- June 2003)

Ninth Test-playing tour of West Indies by Australia

  (previous visit in 1999)

Winning the series 3-1 and retaining the Frank Worrell Trophy, Australia were restored to the top of the ICC Test ratings.

The West Indians accused Steve Waugh of taking a catch off Brian Lara on the bounce, which precipitated a collapse of West Indies' innings in the first Test and the subsequent ten-wicket defeat. Australia also won the next two Test matches but Banks and Drakes secured an unexpected victory for West Indies at St John’s, steering them to the record highest fourth-innings target of 418 in the history of Test matches.

McGrath’s well-publicised mid-pitch spat with Sarwan in Antigua ended with the two players shaking hands and apologising to each other.  

The players agreed that seven one-day internationals were too many. Once Australia had taken an unbeatable 4-0 lead, the visitors lost the next three matches as tiredness set in.  Baggage including bats and pads was stolen from the team between the 3rd and 4th one-day internationals.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

v Pakistan(in Sri Lanka/ Sharjah) 2002-03

Next tour

Sri Lanka 2003-04

Next tour of West Indies

   2007-08

Members of the Test tour party  (15  + 1)

Opening batsmen  Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer.

Middle-order batsmen:  Darren Lehmann, Michael Clarke Martin Love, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh.

Wicket-keeper:Adam Gilchrist plusJimmy Maher (reinforcement

Spin bowlers:Stuart MacGill, Brad Hogg.

Fast bowlers:Jason Gillespie, Andy Bichel, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Ashley Noffke, plus Brad Williams reinforcement.

⋄  Player contracted to Cricket Australia 2002-03 (the new list was announced on 1 May 2003)

State representation

    Pura Cup teams

NSW   New South Wales (5)

Qld  Queensland (4)

SA   South Australia (2)

Tas   Tasmania (1)

Vic   Victoria (0)

WA  Western Australia (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

 (10 April 2003) :

    30 yrs  5 months

ODI   -  member of the limited overs side for the

Test Appearances made before the tour

SR Waugh 156,  McGrath 91,  Ponting 64, Langer 59,  Gilchrist 39,  Gillespie 39,  Hayden 38,  Lee 27,  MacGill 19,  Bichel 11, Lehmann 8,  Love 2,  Hogg 1,  Noffke 0,  Clarke  0,  Maher 0.

⋆ Tour Officials

Selectors

Trevor Hohns (NSP Chairman),   David Boon,  Allan Border  and  Andrew Hilditch.

Selection

Ricky Ponting was chosen to replace Adam Gilchrist as vice-captain, and to captain the ODI team.

Unavailable : In February 2003 Shane Warne was banned for one year for testing positive to using an illegal diuretic to control weight.

Touring Party Announced:   17 March 2003.

Not selected :  Stuart Clark,  Mike Hussey.

Gillespie's selection was subject to a fitness test on his injured heel.

Withdrawal   Damien Martyn, 31, withdrew on 5 April due to a fractured finger, and was replaced by Michael Clarke.   On 2 May it was decided that Clarke would also replace Martyn in the one-day squad.

Time between selection and departure from Australia            

     14 days

(17 March  - 31 March)

Travel

Sydney   Q  London    Q Georgetown

After the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, the victorious Australian team touched down to enthusiastic crowds in Perth on 25 March.

Departure for the West Indies was on Monday 31 March 2003.

While the team flew out Damien Martyn remained behind in Perth for a further scan on his broken finger.

Glenn McGrath left the team in London and flew back to Australia. He arrived back in Sydney on 3 April to be with his sick wife Jane and rejoined the tour in time for the third Test.

Thirteen players landed in Guyana on 3 April.  Martyn, McGrath and Clarke were not with them at that stage.

Brad Williams was summoned to take McGrath’s place. He joined the team in Georgetown on 6 April.

Time spent in West Indies

   60 days

(3 April  - 2 June)

On-tour selection

Steve Waugh  (captain),  John Buchanan  (coach),  Ricky Ponting  (vice-captain).

Reinforcements

Brad Williams left Brisbane on 3 April and met up with the Australian squad in Georgetown on 6 April as cover for Glenn McGrath.  Williams returned from Barbados on 6 May when it was clear he would not be needed for the fourth Test

On 13 April it was announced thatJimmy Maher would fly from Adelaide to join up with the Test side before the one-day series to ease Gilchrist’s workload, and he then remained with the one-day squad.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§  one-day international

Time spent in West Indies before First Test: 

  7 days

(3 April  - 10 April)

Test appearances on tour

4  -   Bichel,  Gilchrist,  Gillespie,  Hayden,  Langer,  Lee,  Lehmann,  MacGill,  SR Waugh.

3  -   Ponting

2  -   Hogg,  McGrath.

1  -   Love.

0  -   Clarke,  Maher,  Noffke,  Williams.

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 UAE v Pakistan 2002 (3 Tests)

 - won 3-0

in South Africa 2001-02 (3 Tests)

 - won 2-1

in England 2001 (5 Tests)

 - won 4-1

in India 2000-01 (3 Tests)

 - lost 1-2

in New Zealand 1999-00 (3 Tests)

 - won 3-0

in Zimbabwe 1999-00 (1 Test)

 - won 1-0

Highlights

•   Steve Waugh became the most capped Australian player, passing Border's record of 156 Test appearances.

•   Justin Langer (146) and Ricky Ponting (117) together scored 248 runs for the 2nd wicket at Bourda

•   Jason Gillespie took 5 wickets for 36 at Georgetown to break the West Indies’ middle-order.

•   Ponting made a double century (206) at Port of Spain. He added 315 runs with Lehmann (160), an Australian record for the third wicket.

•   Gilchrist and Hayden also added undefeated centuries : Australia lost only 7 wickets for 814 runs in the match at Port of Spain.

•   Australia then made 605-9 declared at Bridgetown with Ponting (113) scoring his third century of the series.

•   Stuart MacGill took 4-107 and 5-75 at Bridgetown.

•   Jason Langer (111) and Matthew Hayden (177) finished the series in Antigua with an opening stand of 242

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

?   Q  Sydney

last match ends 1 June.

Time away from Australia    

   approx 65 days  

(31 March   to  4? June)

Finances

…..

Postscript

The Australians had been on tour or competing for The Ashes since August and could at last take a break - but it was only for five weeks. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB, which had now changed its name to ‘Cricket Australia’) had arranged Australia’s first home Test series during the winter season against Bangladesh in Northern Territory.