Tour of  Sri Lanka 2001-02           Captain: Carl Hooper

49th official Test tour

Second official Test-playing tour of Sri Lanka by West Indies

 (October  -  December 2001)

West Indies agreed to go ahead with the tour as scheduled when Sri Lanka promised to beef up security for the visitors.  There were initial concerns about security against international terrorism only a month after the 9/11 atrocity, as well as for the week of the country's December parliamentary elections.

Former Test stars Gordon Greenidge and Andy Roberts supported team coach Roger Harper at a training camp in Jamaica.  Wavell Hinds was asked to train at the preparation camp as cover for Brian Lara who had a hamstring strain but it was Chanderpaul's withdrawal from the tour that gave Hinds his last-minute place. However, almost immediately, he was injured and needed an operation before he could join the tour late.

Lara scored 688 runs in the three-match series including three centuries. Sarwan, who repeatedly had to come in early after one of the openers failed, was the only other player to bat consistently well for 335 runs. Darren Ganga and Chris Gayle’s opening partnerships were 15, 3, 8, 3, 2, and 1. 

Roger Harper said “We didn't show the experience or the ability to adapt,  Sri Lanka have a spin bowler Muralitharan who will be effective on any pitch and a fast bowler in Chaminda Vaas who can bowl on flat pitches by swinging the ball.”

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

Zimbabwe 2001

Next tour

Pakistan 2001-02

Next Sri Lankan tour

2005

Members of the Test tour party (16  + 1)

Opening batsmen:  Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Leon Garrick.

Middle-order batsmen   Carl Hooper, Ramnaresh Sarwan, (captain), Brian Lara, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels.

Wicket-keeper   Ridley Jacobs.

Spin bowlers   Neil McGarrell, Dinanath Ramnarine.

Fast bowlers  Marlon Black, Pedro Collins, Colin Stuart, Mervyn Dillon,  Reon King (returned early), Jermaine Lawson (replacement).

Regional representation

B - Barbados (1)

G  - Guyana (5)

Ja  - Jamaica (4 + 1)

L - Leeward Islands (1)

T - Trinidad & Tobago (5)

W  - Windward Islands 0)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(13 November 2001) : 26 yrs  9 months

ODI  Member of the one-day series squad for LG Albans triangular tournament

Test Appearances made before the tour

Hooper 87,  Lara 80,  Jacobs 32,  Hinds 18,  Dillon 16,  King 14,  Sarwan 14,  Gayle 11,  Ganga 10,  Samuels 9,  Ramnarine 8,  Stuart 4,  Collins 4,  Black 4,  McGarrell 3,  Garrick 1,  Lawson 0

Team Officials

Selectors

Chairman of selectors Mike Findlay, Joel Garner, 

Selection

Unavailable:

Tour Party Announced : 14 October 2001

Not selected : Courtney Browne and Wavell Hinds.

The selection committee recommended that wicket-keeper Browne should join the training camp in Jamaica between 16 and 23 October as a precautionary measure to cover Ridley Jacobs who had a broken finger. As Brian Lara was uncertain for the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka because of his continuing hamstring injury, Wavell Hinds was also included in the pre-tour camp as cover.

Withdrawal  : Shivnarine Chanderpaul (back strain).  Wavell Hinds replaced him.

One-day squad named:  27 November 2001.

Ryan Hinds and Corey Collymore were selected in place of Garrick and Stuart. 

Garrick was brought back into the one-day squad when Wavell Hinds went home early but was then himself replaced by Ricardo Powell after his heart condition was discovered.

Time between selection and departure from West Indies

  16 days

(14 October to 30 October)

Travel

BridgetownQ  London Q   Colombo

The team assembled in Jamaica between 16 and 23 October for a training camp in preparation for the tour after which the players returned to their respective territories.

The team re-assembled for departure on October 30, flying from Grantley Adams International Airport, Bridgetown, for London on Tuesday 30 October 2001, Lara could not  take a full part in the pre-tour training camp in Jamaica, and left for England over the preceding weekend and met the West Indies contingent there for the London-Sri Lanka leg of the journey. They arrived in Colombo for their first full tour of the country on Thursday 1 November. The jet-lagged West Indians arrived in the afternoon after a 34-hour journey which was delayed by one hour.

Wavell Hinds was unable to fly out with the team because his nose was broken by former Test paceman and current selector, Joel Garner, in a festival game.  He would miss the warm-up game in order to have an operation, but was able to leave on 5 November to join the team before the first Test.

Ryan Hinds and Corey Collymore were selected for the one-day triangular series and left the West Indies on Friday 30 November, arriving in Colombo on 2 December.

Time spent in Sri Lanka

   50 days

(1 November - 21 December)

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

Jermaine Lawson was named on 20 November to replace the injured Reon King who went home from Sri Lanka on 21 November, the same day that Lawson flew from Jamaica.

Dinanath Ramnarine (after tearing a muscle in his left side) and Leon Garrick (after complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath) returned home early; Wavell Hinds because of a death of a close cousin; and Mervyn Dillon for disciplinary reasons (he was sent home for refusing to train because of his concerns for safety while the elections were taking place. Suicide bomb attacks had already killed 13 people ahead of the December parliamentary elections).

Jamaican batsman Ricardo Powell (22) and Trinidad all-rounder Darrel Brown (28) were drafted into the squad for the one-day triangular. They left the Caribbean on Saturday 8 December and arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday.

An on-field collision with Sri Lankan fielder Atapattu left Brian Lara with a dislocation and a hairline fracture of the left elbow and he was rushed to hospital in Kandy and then flown back home.

Fixtures/Results

§  one-day international

Time spent in Sri Lanka before First Test:  12 days

(1 November - 13 November)

Test appearances on tour

3  -   Dillon,  Ganga,  Gayle,  Hooper,  Jacobs,  Lara,  Ramnarine,  Samuels,  Sarwan

2  -   Collins,  Stuart

1  -   Black,  McGarrell

0  -   Garrick,  Hinds,  King,  Lawson.

Highlights

•    Brian Lara scored 178 in the first Test and two more huge centuries in the third Test : 221 and 130.

•    In each match he took part in century partnerships with Sarwan and Hooper.

•    His aggregate for the three match series (688 runs, average 114) was a record 

•    Ramnarine took ten wickets in the first two Tests and his average for the series was 35.60

Tour Summary

Return to West Indies

ColomboQ  London Q  

Reon King returned home early on 21 November to have surgery on a hernia.

Wavell Hinds returned from the tour because of a bereavement in his family and arrived home on 2 December.

Dinanath Ramnarine (torn muscle in left side) and Leon Garrick (after being diagnosed with a heart condition) returned home early on 6 December. Colin Stuart returned home as he was not part of the one-day squad.

Mervyn Dillon was sent home on 6 December for disciplinary reasons after skipping a practice session. Brian Lara was put on an early flight to London after fracturing his left elbow on 17 December

The team departed from Colombo on 21 December.

In January 2002 the WICB Disciplinary Committee took no further disciplinary action against Dillon which paved the way for him to be considered for the tour to Sharjah.

Time away from West Indies    x days  

(30 October to arrive home in WI)

Finances

The West Indies Cricket Board lost approximately 300,000 US dollars on the Sri Lanka tour because of an ICC ruling that gate receipts and television rights would now go solely to the host nation and the visitors would receive $62,500 per Test match, and $25,000 per one-day international. This evened out because of the Future Tours Programme to play every Test-playing nation twice every 10 years, home and away but previously tourists had been able to negotiate special incentives.

The lives of the twenty members of the West Indies touring party were insured for a total of US$5 million by the West Indies Cricket Board

Published accounts of the tour