Test Cricket Tours - West Indies to England 2004

Test Cricket Tours - West Indies to England 2004

Tour of England 2004 Captain: Brian Lara

52nd West Indies Test tour

Seventeenth Test-playing tour of England by West Indies

(May - September 2004)

In contrast to their ‘blackwash’ triumphs against England in the 19080s, West Indies lost this four-Test Test series 4-0, adding to the three defeats in the Caribbean in the winter. Vaneisa Baksh, writing of West Indies’ appalling slide to the lower end of the rankings in ‘Brian Lara: Legend in his own Lifetime’, cited the widely-held criticism that in the current decade “players did not have a disciplined approach to preparation for games.” While this was denied by among others vice-captain Sarwan, “…they were thought to shirk training sessions, ignore nutritional guidelines, and to have a casual approach to physical fitness.”

Another factor was that West Indian stars were no longer participating in county cricket as they had in the ‘seventies and ‘eighties and familiarising themselves with playing the moving ball; only four players (Lara, Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Jacobs) had significant experience in England. Other countries had left West Indies behind withsports science to boost performance, and the absence of a bowling coach could be linked with the abysmal Test figures of the faster bowlers. All-rounder Dwayne Bravo was the only West Indian player to make much progress in the summer

Teddy Griffith, President of WICB, described the current era as a period of ‘structural adjustment’ - “the game in the region was undergoing all the pains (and hopefully the gains) associated with that term."

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

South Africa 2003-04

Next tour

Sri Lanka 2005

Next England tour

2007

Members of the Test tour party (16 + 2)

Opening batsmen: Chris Gayle, Devon Smith.

Middle-order batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sylvester Joseph, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Smith.

Wicket-keeper:Carlton Baugh, Ridley Jacobs.

All-rounder: Dwayne Bravo.

Spin bowler:Omari Banks + Dave Mohammed (replacement)

Fast bowlers Tino Best, Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards, Jermaine Lawson, Ravi Rampaul. (replaced by Corey Collymore)

O A C Banks	L	22	OB

C S Baugh	Ja	22	WK	ODI (N)

T L Best	B	22	RF	ODI (N)

D J Bravo	T	20	RHB RFM	ODI (N) (C)

S Chanderpaul	G	29	LHB	ODI (N) (C)

P T Collins	B	27	LFM

F H Edwards	B	22	RF	ODI w/d

C H Gayle	Ja	24	LHB opener OB	ODI (N) (C)

R D Jacobs	L	36	LHB WK	ODI (N)

S C Joseph	L	25	RHB	ODI (C)

B C Lara	T	35	LHB captain	ODI (N) (C)

J J C Lawson	Ja	22	RF	ODI (N) (C) w/d

R Rampaul	T	20	RFM	ODI (N)

R R Sarwan	G	24	RHB (LB) vice-captain	ODI (N) (C)

D R Smith	B	21	RHB RM	ODI (N) (C) w/d

D S Smith	W	22	LHB	ODI (N)

Member of limited-overs squads before and	I D R Bradshaw	ODI (N) (C)
after the Test series	C O Browne	ODI (C)
	C D Collymore	ODI (C)
	M Dillon	ODI (C)
	R O Hinds	ODI (C)
	W W Hinds	ODI (C)
	R L Powell	ODI (N) (C)
	D J G Sammy	ODI (N) (C)

Regional representation

B - Barbados (4)

G - Guyana (2)

Ja - Jamaica (3)

L - Leeward Islands (3)

T - Trinidad & Tobago (3)

W - Windward Islands (1)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(22 July 2004): 25 yrs 0 months

ODI (N) Member of the one-day (NatWest) series squad before Test series started or (C) Champions Trophy squad

Test Appearances made before the tour

Lara 108, Chanderpaul 76, Jacobs 63, Sarwan 46, Gayle 43, Collins 24, Edwards 12, Collymore 11, Lawson 8, Devon Smith 8, Best 7, Banks 6, Dwayne Smith 5, Baugh 4, Mohammed 1, Bravo 0, Joseph 0, Rampaul 0.

⋆ Tour Officials

Tony Howard	Manager
Gus Logie	Coach
Andrew Simpson	Physiotherapist
Ronald Rogers	Fitness trainer
Garfield Smith	Scorer/Computer Analyst
Imran Khan	Media Relations Officer

Selectors

Sir Vivian Richards (chairman), Gordon Greenidge and Clyde Butts.

Richards was unable to continue in the post of Chairman of Selectors because of his broadcasting commitment to the BBC, and resigned on 20 June. The WICB appointed Joey Carew to be interim chairman of the senior selection committee.

Selection

Unavailable:

One-day squad announced: 20 May 2004

Darren Sammy, a member of the one-day squad, became the first St Lucian to represent the West Indies senior team.

Withdrawal: Fidel Edwards had to withdraw from the one-day series before the side left for England, owing to a hamstring pull, and Jermaine Lawson took his place in the limted-overs squad.

Test Tour Party Announced : 15 June 2004

Not selected : Marlon Samuels, Mervyn Dillon.

Reserves: Corey Collymore, Darren Sammy, Dave Mohammed.

Champions Trophy squad announced: 11 August 2004.

Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds,Brian Lara,Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Ricardo Powell, Courtney Browne (wk), Sylvester Joseph, Mervyn Dillon, Corey Collymore, Ian Bradshaw, Jermaine Lawson.

Darren Sammy then replaced Jermaine Lawson (stress fracture in back) and Roland Hinds replaced Dwayne Smith

Time between selection of one-day squad and departure from West Indies

23 days

(20 May - 12 June)

Travel

Bridgetown Q London

The one-day squad flew to Belfast Airport on the weekend of 12 June for a five-day visit before flying to England.

The Test-only players (Edwards, Collins, Banks and Joseph) departed from the Caribbean on Tuesday 4 July .

Time spent in England

x days

(13 June - depart Host)

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

C D Collymore

RFM

ODI

Ravi Rampaul flew home early from West Indies' tour, after failing to recover from a persistent shin splints injury. Corey Collymore was added to the tour party and flew in on 23 July.

D Mohammed

SLA unorthodox

Tino Best sustained a back injury in the first Test at Lord’s was replaced by Dave Mohammed, who joined up with the squad on 3 August from America where he was touring with the Trinidad & Tobago team.

Ridley Jacobs was ruled out of the remainder of West Indies' tour after undergoing surgery to repair a small tear in his right knee and missed the third and fourth Tests. No replacement was required.

After the Champions Trophy squad was picked Darren Sammy replaced Jermaine Lawson (stress fracture in back) and Ryan Hinds replaced Dwayne Smith who injured his shoulder in the final Test match.

Fixtures/Results

a	ϯ Belfast	Ireland (50 overs)	Won 96 r
b	ϯ Belfast	Ireland (50 overs)	Lost 6 w
c	ϯ Hove	Sussex (50 overs)	Won 6 w
d	ϯ Beckenham	Kent (50 overs)	Won 91 r
e	ϯ Shenley	Middlesex (50 overs)	Abandoned
f	§ Edgbaston	New Zealand (1st ODI)	No result
g	§ Trent Bridge	England (2nd ODI)	Won 7w
h	§ Headingley	England (3rd ODI)	Lost 7w
i	§ Cardiff	New Zealand (4th ODI)	Lost 5 w
j	§ Lord's	England (5th ODI)	Won 7 w
k	§ Southampton	New Zealand (6th ODI)	No result
l	§ Lord's	New Zealand (ODI final)	Lost 107 r
m	Arundel	M C C	Won 29 r
n	Shenley	Sri Lanka A	Drawn
o	LORD’S	ENGLAND First Test	LOST 210 r
p	EDGBASTON	ENGLAND Second Test	LOST 256 r
q	Derby	Derbyshire	Won 315 r
r	OLD TRAFFORD	ENGLAND Third Test	LOST 7 w
s	THE OVAL	ENGLAND Fourth Test	LOST 10w
t	ϯ Hamilton	Barbados (50 overs)	Won 10 r
u	ϯ Hamilton	Bermuda (50 overs)	?
v	ϯ Somerset	Barbados (50 overs)	Lost 8 w
w	§ Southampton(15 Sept)	Bangladesh(Champions Trophy)	Won 138 r
x	§ The Oval	South Africa(Champions Trophy)	Won 5 w
y	§ Southampton	Pakistan(Champions Trophy)	Won 7 w
z	§ The Oval	England(Champions Trophy final)	Won 2 w

† not first-class

§ one-day international

Time spent in England before First Test: 39 days

(13 June - 22 July)

Test appearances on tour

4 - Bravo, Chanderpaul, Gayle, Lara, Sarwan

3 - Collins, Collymore, Edwards

2 - Banks, Baugh, Jacobs, Joseph, Lawson, Devon Smith.

1 - Best, Mohammed, Dwayne Smith

0 - Rampaul.

Match appearances

West Indies tour 2004

O A C Banks

C S Baugh

I D R Bradshaw

T L Best

D J Bravo

C O Browne

S Chanderpaul

P T Collins

C D Collymore

M Dillon

F H Edwards

C H Gayle

R O Hinds

W W Hinds

R D Jacobs

S C Joseph

B C Lara

J J C Lawson

D Mohammad

R L Powell

R Rampaul

D J G Sammy

R R Sarwan

D R Smith

D S Smith

RESULTS

T Test match o one-day international x other match

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

Highlights

•

• Chris Gayle scored 105 at The Oval including four 4s in one over, the first time this was done in a Test

Tour Summary

	P	W	L	D/ NR	Aban
Test Matches	4	0	4	0	-
Other first-class matches	3	2	0	1	-
ϯ Minor matches ⋆	8	4	2	0	1
§ One-day internationals	11	6	3	2	-
All Matches ⋆	26	12	9	3	1

⋆ one minor match result unknown

Return to West Indies

LondonQ Bermuda Q

The limited-overs players, Ian Bradshaw, Ricardo Powell and Darren Sammy, returned home after the NatWest series.

Injured players who left the tour early included Ravi Rampaul (flew to Trinidad on 25 July 2004), Tino Best (to Barbados on 1 August) and Ridley Jacobs (to Antigua on 18 August).

The Test series ended on 21 August, bringing the official tour to a close. The tourists then went on a training ‘camp’ in Bermuda between 30 Aug and 4 Sep in preparation for the Champions Trophy. To their delight and surprise West Indies finished winners of this competition.

Dwayne Smith had to return home from Bermuda with a swollen and tender shoulder and was replaced by Ryan Hinds who was also in Bermuda. He went back to Barbados in order to leave for England on Sunday 5 September

Time away from West Indies x days

(12 June to arrive home in WI)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript

The Champions Trophy coda ended the tour on a surprisingly upbeat note with West Indies stealing an unlikely victory but this could hardly conceal the problems of a poorly-led, underconfident team. Coach Gus Logie, appointed in July 2003, felt it was unreasonable to expect instant results but he had overseen too many Test defeats in a row, and stood down by mutual agreement in October.

A failure to keep the fast bowlers fit was a further problem. Edwards, Best, Rampaul and Lawson were all unavailable at different times. On 27 November 2004 Stephen Partridge was appointed as the team’s new physiotherapist.