Tour of England 1973                   Captain:  Rohan Kanhai
	Seventeenth official Test tour     Ninth Test-playing tour of England by West Indies       (May - September 1973)	The West Indies' first overseas Test tour for four years broke a sequence of very poor Test results:                Lost 1-0  to England in 1967-68 and lost 2-0 in 1969                Lost 3-1 to Australia in 1968-69  and lost 2-0 in 1973                Drew 1-1 with New Zealand in 1968-69 and drew 0-0 in 1972                Lost  1-0 to India in 1970-71   At last in 1973 West Indies won a Test series and did so convincingly by two matches to nil.  Not disregarding the contributions made by batsmen, the victories at The Oval and Lord's owed most to a renewal of West Indies' traditional strength in fast bowling. For the first time since 1966 Sobers did not lead the West Indies abroad.  He said he preferred to play for Nottinghamshire and it later emerged that, following his knee operations, he could not participate fully in the tour except turning out for the three Test matches, where he topped both batting and bowling averages. No less than ten of the players in the tour party and two who were called up as reinforcements were playing regularly in the English county championship.  West Indies firmly denied them permission to take part in any English county cricket during the tour.	Other West Indies tours     Previous tour To England 1969   Next tour To India & Pakistan 1974-75       Next tour of England 1976
	Members of the Test tour party   (17)     Openers  Roy Fredericks,  Steve Camacho,  Ron Headley (r) Batsmen  Maurice Foster, Alvin Kallicharran, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Lawrence Rowe,  Gary Sobers (r) Wicket-keepers  David Murray, Deryck Murray Spin bowlers   Inshan Ali, Lance Gibbs, Elquemedo Willett Fast bowlers  Keith Boyce, Vanburn Holder, Bernard Julien, Grayson Shillingford.	Inshan Ali T 23 SLA     K D Boyce B 29 RFM     G S Camacho G 27 LHB  opener     M L C Foster J 30 RHB     R C Fredericks G 30 LHB  opener     L R Gibbs G 38 OB   vice-captain     V A Holder B 27 RFM     B D Julien T 23 RFM     A I Kallicharran G 24 LHB     R B Kanhai G 37 RHB   captain     C H Lloyd G 28 LHB     D A David Murray B 23 second WK     D L Deryck Murray T 30 WK     L G Rowe J 24 RHB     G C Shillingford W 28 RFM     E T Willett L 20 SLA	Representation of teams:       B - Barbados G - Guyana J  - Jamaica L - Leeward Islands T - Trinidad & Tobago W - Windward Islands         Average age of  team at time of first Test match (26 July 1973) :       28 yrs  1 month
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Sobers 86, Kanhai 71, Gibbs 58, Lloyd 28, Fredericks 24, Deryck Murray 14, Holder 13, Camacho 11, Foster 10, Inshan Ali 7, Kallicharran 7, Rowe 7, Shillingford 7, Boyce 5, Willett 3, Julien 0, David Murray 0, Headley 0.
	Team Officials	E S M Kentish Manager G L Gibbs Assistant manager L Pink Physiotherapist Tony Smith Baggage / driver
	Selectors	A F Rae, J S Solomon, J B Stollmeyer, F L Thomas, C L Walcott.
	Selection	Unavailable:  C A Davis (business reasons); G S Sobers said that following his knee operation he could not undertake the whole tour but offered himself to play in the Test matches.   Tour Party Announced :  26 April 1973.   Not selected :   'Joey' Carew,  Uton Dowe,  Geoff Greenidge,  David Holford.
	Travel	Most of the team were already in England playing in the county championship. Kentish and Foster flew to Miami and then BOAC to London.  Glendon Gibbs, Camacho, David Murray, Inshan Ali, Rowe, Willett and Shillingford flew out of Seawell Airport, Barbados on 8 June 1973. They landed at Heathrow Airport. The ten professionals in England assembled at the Clarendon Court Hotel in London on Monday 11  June
	On-tour selection panel	Rohan Kanhai,  Lance Gibbs,  Clive Lloyd,  Esmond Kentish.
	Reinforcements	G S Sobers (B) 36 from Nottinghamshire for the 3 Test matches only.  R G A Headley (J) 34 from Worcestershire.  They replaced Camacho (depressed cheek fracture against Hampshire in late June) and Rowe (ankle ligaments) who returned home.  Camacho returned on 4 August. "I figured that I was in the selectors' thoughts," wrote Gordon Greenidge. "I was the man in form and there seemed no logical alternative. Imagine then how stunned I was when I heard that Ron Headley had been called up... it was an amazing decision.. Ron had played loyally and comparatively successfully for Worcestershire for fifteen years without ever once so much as putting himself in line for a cap or without ever doing anything to suggest he had been unlucky. Yet here he was, at the advanced age of 34, hoisted from obscurity into a place in the touring team and contention for a Test place." [Man in the Middle, 1980]
	Fixtures/Results	† Guildford Club Cricket Conference Drawn † Osterley Indian Gymkhana XII Won 124 r Chelmsford Essex Drawn Southampton Hampshire Won 174 r Eastbourne DH Robins XI Lost 10 w Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire Won 9 w Lord's Middlesex Drawn Swansea Glamorgan Won inns 11 r † Swansea Glamorgan (one-day) Won 8 r † Portsmouth Combined Services Won inns 78 r Hove Sussex Drawn Canterbury Kent Drawn Old Trafford Young England Drawn KENNINGTON OVAL ENGLAND  First Test WON 158 r Torquay Minor Counties Drawn Cheltenham Gloucestershire Drawn EDGBASTON ENGLAND  Second Test DRAWN † Harrogate Yorkshire Leagues XI Lost 6 w Scarborough Yorkshire Drawn LORD'S ENGLAND  Third Test WON inns 226 r Chesterfield Derbyshire Won 163 r Scarborough TN Pearce's XI Drawn † Scarborough TN Pearce's XI Won 6 w §  Headingley England (1st ODI) Lost 1 w §  Kennington Oval England (2nd ODI) Won 8 w	§  ODI (The Prudential Trophy)     † not first-class .
	Test appearances on tour	3  - Boyce, Fredericks, Gibbs, Julien, Kallicharran, Kanhai, Lloyd, Deryck Murray, Sobers 2 -   Headley, Holder 1 -   Foster, Inshan Ali 0  -  Camacho, David Murray, Rowe, Shillingford, Willett.
	Highlights	•   Keith Boyce had a match analysis of 11 for 147 at The Oval, equally Ramadhin and Valentine's 1950 feats •   Three batsmen scored 150s: Fredericks 150 at Edgbaston;  Kanhai (157) and Sobers (150*) at The Oval •   West Indies scored its largest total (652-8 dec) in England and biggest margin of victory against England in the final Test.
	Tour Summary	P  W L  D Aban Test Matches   3   2 0   1 - Other first-class matches 15   5 1   9 - Minor matches   6   4 1   1 - One-day internationals   2   1 1   0 - All Matches 25 11 2 12 -
	Return to West Indies	Most of the team remained in England at the end of the tour. Glendon Gibbs and six players (Inshan Ali, Holder, Julien, David Murray, Shillingford and Willett) arrived in Seawell Airport, Barbados, from Heathrow on Monday 11 September, Ali and Julien flying on to Trinidad next day.  Manager Esmond Kentish flew on the same Monday to Norman Manley International Airport, Jamaica.

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