Tour of Pakistan 1997-98       Captain: Courtney Walsh

43rd official Test tour

Sixth Test-playing tour of Pakistan by the West Indies

 (October -

         December 1997)

Pakistan achieved their first series win over West Indies for 39 years with an historic 3-0 victory. It was the first time West Indies had been whitewashed in a series since 1928.  Pakistan bowled out West Indies, perhaps helped by some questionable umpiring, six times, which the tourists could do to Pakistan only three times.  The tourists’ batting was described in the Telegraph as lacking character, heart and quality; the fielding was described as slipshod. More was expected of Lara than his 129 runs in six Test innings.

“It’s obvious the team has been on the slide for a number of years,” manager Clive Lloyd said of the decline: “We didn't stop and take stock, and we should have done.”  Only in Sharjah did the players’ performance improve and they reached the final of the Champions Trophy.

The tour party was rumoured to have fallen into two camps, supporting either Walsh or Lara, who was denied both the captaincy and vice-captaincy by the West Indian Board. Manager Clive Lloyd, who was not on the selection committee, was unhappy with the choice of some of the 15 players.  Sources for Dawn claimed that the team management had told a player in Lahore to pack his bags and go home, although eventually he remained a part of the side.

After a three-hour road journey from Karachi for the match in Hyderabad, the West Indians found the hotel the Cricket Board had booked them into was full, and they were shown instead to a guest house where the beds were too small for their big fast bowlers and there was no chef, nor a clean kitchen.  Manager Lloyd said it was simply not good enough for four nights and the match was cancelled.

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

Australia 1996-97

Next tour

South Africa 1998-99

Next Pakistan tour

2001-02 (in UAE)

Members of the Test tour party  (15)

Fast bowlers: Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop, Mervyn Dillon, Franklyn Rose, Courtney Walsh.

Representation of teams:  

B - Barbados (3)

G  - Guyana (2)

J  - Jamaica (2)

L - Leeward Islands (2)

T - Trinidad & Tobago (5)

W  - Windward Islands (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(17 November 1997) : 25 yrs  11 months

ODI  Member of the one-day series squad for the Wills Quadrangular.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Walsh 93,  Ambrose 72,  Hooper 64,  Lara 45,  Bishop 37,  Simmons 25,  Campbell 23,  Chanderpaul 21,  SC Williams 19,  Holder 7,  Rose 7,  D Williams 3,  Dillon 2,  Lewis 0,  Wallace 0.

Team Officials

Selectors

Wes Hall (chairman),  Joey Carew and  Michael Findlay.

Selection

Unavailable:

Tour Party Announced :  1 August 1997.

The West Indies selectors wanted Lara as captain but were over-ruled by the WI Board, and he was not even designated as vice-captain.

Not selected :  Jimmy Adams,  Courtney Browne,  Junior Murray.

Travel

The team assembled in Trinidad for a five-day coaching seminar, but Ambrose, Hooper, Lara and Walsh did not attend. The West Indies team left Jamaica on 21 October for London before moving on to Islamabad two days later.  Arrived at Lahore Airport on Friday morning 24 October 1997.

The team arrived in Sharjah on 10 December.

On-tour selection

Reinforcements

None. Curtly Ambrose flew back to the West Indies for rest and treatment for his back injury., missing the third Test and Champions Trophy in Sharjah.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

(AC) Aitchison College

§ ODI:  Wills Golden Jubilee Quadrangular Series in Pakistan;

Akai Singer Champions Trophy in Sharjah.

.

Test appearances on tour

3  -  Bishop,  Campbell,  Chanderpaul,  Hooper,  Lara,  Walsh,  D Williams,  SC Williams.

2  -  Ambrose,  Rose.

1  -  Dillon, Holder,  Lewis,  Simmons,  Wallace.

Highlights

•   Courtney Walsh  took 5-78 in the first Test, 5-143 in the second and 4-74 in the third; and reached his 350th wicket in 96 Tests.

•    Campbell (78) and Chanderpaul (95) added 147 for the fifth wicket at Rawalpindi.

•    Hooper stood alone with 73 not out at Rawalpindi and 106 at Karachi as West Indies crashed to an innings defeat in both Tests.

•   

Tour Summary

Return to West Indies

Both Champions Trophy finalists, England and the West Indians, flew from the United Arab Emirates to London on Saturday morning 20 December after the previous evening’s floodlit match.