Tour of England 2000           Captain: Jimmy Adams

46th Test tour

Sixteenth official Test-playing tour by West Indies to England

  (May - September 2000)

Before their home series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan, West Indies Board of Control introduced wholesale change: Adams replaced Lara as captain, and there was a new manager and coach. Long-serving Australian physiotherapist Dennis Waight also lost his job and was replaced by Trinidadian Ronald Rogers. Waight had served with every West Indies team since World Series Cricket ended in 1979.

England beat the West Indies in a Test series for the first time since 1969. West Indies won the first Test comfortably but were routed at Lord’s, being all out for 54, and did not psychologically recover from this blow. They failed to reach the ODI triangular final and lost the fourth Test in two days. With it went the Wisden Trophy.

Adams said he thought 3-1 was a fair reflection of the series.  "England played consistently better than us for the majority of the summer, and were mentally tougher than we were."

Curtly Ambrose stated before the team left the Caribbean that he would retire at the end of the England tour. He and then Courtney Walsh walked to the wicket through a guard of honour formed by England's players on the final day of the fifth Test at the Oval. It was not quite the end of Walsh’s Test career but it was Ambrose’s last Test appearance. 

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

New Zealand 1999-2000

Next tour

Australia 2000-01

Next England tour

2004

Members of the Test tour party  (16  +  1)

Opening batsmen: Sherwin Campbell, Chris Gayle, Adrian Griffith.

Middle-order batsmen: Brian Lara, Jimmy Adams, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Wicket-keepers: Ridley Jacobs, Wayne Philip (reinforcement).

Spin bowler: Mahendra Nagamootoo.

Fast bowlers: Curtly Ambrose, Corey Collymore, Reon King, Nixon McLean, Franklyn Rose, Courtney Walsh.

Regional representation:  

B - Barbados (3)

G  - Guyana (4)

Ja - Jamaica  (5)

L - Leeward Islands (2)

T - Trinidad & Tobago (1)

W  - Windward Islands (2, including Phillip)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(15 June 2000) : 27 yrs  9 months

ODI  Member of the one-day series squad

Test Appearances made before the tour

Walsh 117,  Ambrose 93,  Lara 65,  Adams 44,  Chanderpaul 42,  Campbell  41, Jacobs 16,  Rose 16,  Griffith 10, McLean 10,  King 8,  Hinds 5,  Gayle 3,  Sarwan 2,  Collymore 1,  Nagamootoo 0, Phillip 0.

Team Officials

Selectors

Selectors :  Mike Findlay (chairman), Joel Garner, Joey Carew, Roger Harper (coach) and Jimmy Adams (captain)  met in Guyana on Tuesday 9 May to select the squad.

Selection

Unavailable: Immediately before the selection meeting, Lara informed Findlay that he would be unavailable because his mother was unwell but 24 hours later changed his mind.

It is assumed the player then dropped was Daren Ganga.

Tour Party Announced :  11 May 2000.

The Board turned down Chairman of Selectors Findlay's request to take a 17th player which meant that Ridley Jacobs was the sole wicket-keeper. However, arrangements were immediately put in place for Dominican wicket-keeper Wayne Philip of Dominica already in England to play league cricket, to be drafted into the party as required to keep wicket throughout the tour to rest Jacobs.

Not selected :  Daren Ganga,  Sylvester Joseph,  Ricardo Powell.

Time between selection and departure from West Indies

  19 days

(11 May - 30 May)

Travel

BridgetownQ  London Heathrow

Because the Test Match between West Indies and Pakistan was not scheduled to finish until Monday 29 May, the ECB agreed to the West Indies Cricket Board's request to delay the start of its tour programme at Worcester until Friday 2 June.

The team took off from Bridgetown on Tuesday 30 May 2000 and landed at Heathrow Airport, London, on 31 May

Time spent in England

   x days

(31 May - depart Host)

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

Wayne Phillip, now a member of the MCC groundstaff, was not officially drafted into the party as such, but the tourists were free to borrow him as required.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul had an elbow injury in July and left the tour early

Reon King was troubled by a heel injury throughout the tour.

L R Williams, D H Mais, K G Darlington played against Getty's XII in August.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§  one-day international

Time spent in  before First Test:   16 days

(31 May - 15 June)

Test appearances on tour

5  -   Adams,  Ambrose,  Campbell,  Hinds,  Jacobs,  Lara,  Walsh

4  -   Griffith,  King

3  -   Rose,  Sarwan, 

2  -   Chanderpaul,  McLean

1  -   Gayle,  Nagamootoo.

0  -   Collymore,  Phillip.

Highlights

•    Jimmy Adams hit 98 in the opening Test as West Indies won by an innings

•    Lara’s 112 in the third Test was West Indies’ sole century in the series.

•   Wavell Hinds scored three centuries in side matches but could average no more than 16 in the Tests

•    Walsh took 34 wickets at 12.82 in the series and Ambrose took 17 at 18.64

Tour Summary

Return to West Indies

LondonQ 

Ambrose returned temporarily to Antigua between 4 and 23 July during the NatWest one-day series.

Vice-captain Sherwin Campbell was allowed to return home to Barbados between July 4 and 7 for the birth of his child.  Shivnarine Chanderpaul returned home early in July suffering from tendonitis of the elbow.  Between Tests Ramnaresh Sarwan returned to the Caribbean to attend the funeral of his former girlfriend who died of pneumonia at only 18 years of age.

At the end of the tour the players left their London headquarters, the Waldorf Hotel, …. approx 5 September 2000.

Time away from West Indies    x days  

(30 May to  September)

Finances

The West Indies tour 2000 was jointly sponsored by hotel chain Sandals Resorts and Carib Beer.