Tour of Sri Lanka 2005       Captain: S Chanderpaul

54th Test-playing tour

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

    (July - August 2005)

The West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) were in dispute and negotiations about tour contracts broke down when most players would not sign. The West Indies Board selected an alternative team mostly made up of players already in Sri Lanka for an A tour. Failure to honour the tour commitment would have resulted in heavy fines from the International Cricket Conference.

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

England 2004

Next tour

Australia 2005-06

Next Sri Lankan tour

2010-11

Members of the Test tour party (14)

Opening batsmen:  Sylvester Joseph, Xavier Marshall

Middle-order batsmen   Shiv Chanderpaul, Runako Morton, Narsingh  Deonarine, Ryan Ramdass, Dwayne Smith

Wicket-keeper  Denesh Ramdin

Spin bowlers  Omari Banks

Fast bowlers   Tino Best, Kerry Jeremy, Daren Powell, Jermaine Lawson,Deighton Butler,

.

Regional representatiuon  

B - Barbados (2)

G  - Guyana (3)

Ja  - Jamaica (3)

L - Leeward Islands (4)

T - Trinidad & Tobago (1)

W  - Windward Islands (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(13 July 2005):

24 yrs  7 months

ODI  Member of the one-day series squad for the Indian Oil Cup

Test Appearances made before the tour

Chanderpaul 86,  Best 10,  Lawson 10,  D Powell 10,  Banks 8,  DR Smith 7,  Deonarine 2,  Joseph 2,  Marshall 0,  Morton 0,  Ramdin 0  Ramdass 0,  Butler 0,  Jeremy 0.

Team Officials

Selectors

Joey Carew (chairman), 

Selection

Originally invitations were issued on 17 June to 13 players with a deadline of 21 June for indication of acceptance

Tour Party Announced :  On 19 June the names of the 13 players were announced

Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara (given permission to miss the one-day matches), Darren Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wkt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith

with two more playerts to be added from the West Indies A squad already in Sri Lanka.

Not selected : Courtney Browne,  Reon King

Withdrawals  All but three players (Chanderpaul, Daren Powell and Denesh Ramdin) refused to sign the tour contract, because of a clause that signed away their rights to personal and commercial contracts.

Alternative Tour Party Announced :  1 July 2005

They drafted in eight A team players, already in Sri Lanka. Two players were summoned from league cricket in England (Banks and Joseph) as well as

Best, Deonarine, Lawson, Marshall, Morton, Ramdass, Jeremy and Dwayne Smith from the West Indies A squad in Sri Lanka were invited to join the senior touring team and accepted. Four senior members of the West Indies 'A' team in Sri Lanka, Daren Ganga, Marlon Samuels, Carlton Baugh and Dave Mohammed, would not sign the tour contract in support of the senior team players.

The third and final representative match between West Indies A and Sri Lanka A at the Saravanamuttu Stadium was delayed by two days to allow seven new team A tourists to arrive: Tishan Maraj, Lendl Simmons, Richard Kelly Darren Sammy,, Kenroy Peters Jean Paul and Sewnarine Chattergoon

Time between selection and departure from West Indies

  12 days

(19 June -  1 July)

Travel

BombayQ  London Q   Colombo

The A team left the Caribbean on Friday 17 June

For the senior squad, departure was on 1 July, the players arrived in Colombo on 3 July.

Time spent in Sri Lanka

   6 days

(3 July - 9 August)

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

On 22 July it was announced that Ricardo Powell would reinforce the team for the one-day series.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul went down with a viral infection and missed the final one-day match.

Fixtures/Results

§  triangular IndianOil Cup    NCC Nondescripts Cricket Club   SSC  Sinhalese Sports Club  RPS  R Premadasa Stadium

The Test match series was played for the Union Assurance Trophy

† not first-class

§  one-day international

⊕  Twenty20 international

Time spent in Sri Lanka before First Test: 

10 days

(3 July - 13 July)

Test appearances on tour

2  -   Banks,  Best,  Chanderpaul,  Deonarine,  Joseph,  Lawson,  Marshall,  Morton,  Powell,  Ramdin

1  -   Ramdass,  DR Smith

0  -   Butler,  Jeremy.

Highlights

•    Chanderpaul scored 69 and 48* in the first Test

•    Jermaine Lawson took 4-59 and 4-43 in the first Test at Colombo (SSC)

•    Daren Powell took 5-25 in the second Test at Kandy

Tour Summary

Return to West Indies

ColomboQ  London?  Q   Perth

The team returned from Colombo on Tuesday 9 August  to the Caribbean

Time away from West Indies    approx 40 days  

(1 July to arrive home in WI)

Finances

If the West Indies Board had not sent an alternative team, the failure to honour their commitment to the ICC-approved schedule could have resulted in sanctions and fines up to US$ 2 million.