Tour of Sharjah to play Pakistan 2001-02         Captain: Carl Hooper

Fiftieth official Test tour

First Test-playing tour by West Indies to UAE, tenth tour to play Tests against Pakistan

  (January  - February 2002)

The original itinerary of the tour had the West Indians arriving at Islamabad on 25 January 2002 and leaving from Karachi on 7 March. However, following the 11 September terrorist attack on New York and subsequent American response in Afghanistan, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) pulled out of its tour of Pakistan for security reasons on 24 December.

At its Kuala Lumpur meeting of 19 October 2001 the International Cricket Council (ICC) had recommended that Test series affected by the war against terrorism should be moved to independent venues.  WICB president Wes Hall told the Pakistan Cricket Board that the West Indies had no objection in fulfilling its obligation at a neutral venue. Firstly, Bangladesh offered to host the Test series against West Indies but the decision was eventually made to hold it in one of the United Arab Emirates when cricket promoter Abdul Rehman Bukhatir of the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) offered to host the series in Sharjah.

West Indies, already eighth in the Test cricket rankings, lost both Test matches heavily and slipped further towards the positions occupied by Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. They had now lost 23 of their last 27 overseas Tests.

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

Sri Lanka 2001-02

Next tour

India 2002-03

Next tour to Pakistan

2006-07

Members of the Test tour party (15 + 1)

Opening batsmen  Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Sherwin Campbell

Middle-order batsmen:  Shiv Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Runako Morton (r), Carl Hooper, Wavell Hinds

Wicket-keeper:  Ridley Jacobs.

All-rounder:  Dwayne Bravo

Spin bowlers  Ryan Hinds,  Dinanath Ramnarine

Fast bowlers  Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon

Regional representation

B - Barbados (4)

G  - Guyana (2)

Ja  - Jamaica (3)

L - Leeward Islands (1 + 1)

T - Trinidad & Tobago (4)

W  - Windward Islands (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(17 May 2007) : 27 yrs  4 months

ODI  Member of the one-day series squad

Test Appearances made before the tour

Hooper 90,  Campbell 51,  Chanderpaul 49,  Jacobs 35,  Dillon 20,  WW Hinds 19,  Gayle 14,  Ganga 13,  Samuels 12,  Ramnarine 11,  Collins 6,  Cuffy 5,  Collymore 1,  Brown 0,  R O Hinds 0.

Team Officials

Selectors

Selection

On 12 January 2002 the West Indies selectors named 22 players for a trial match at Queens Park Oval.

Carl Hooper (captain), Marlon Black, Ian Bradshaw, Darrel Brown, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon, Daren Ganga, Leon Garrick, Chris Gayle, Keith Hibbert, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Jermaine Lawson, Neil McGarrell, Dave Mohammed, Dinanath Ramnarine, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Unavailable: Brian Lara was ruled out of Pakistan tour when examination of his injured left elbow revealed a hairline fracture. Colin Stuart (knee) and Reon King (hernia operation) were also unfit to be considered for the tour.

Ramnaresh Sarwan was ruled out of the squad with a strained muscle in his lower back only a week before the team was due to depart. Sherwin Campbell was brought into the trials and was called up for the tour.

On 6 January 2002 the WICB Disciplinary Committee took no further disciplinary action against Mervyn Dillon for refusing to attend a practice session in Sri Lanka, clearing the way for him to be considered for Sharjah.

Tour Party Announced :  22 January 2002.

Not selected:  Black, Bradshaw, Garrick, Hibbert, Lawson, McGarrell and Mohammed were all reserves.

Time between selection and departure from West Indies

  3 days

(22 January - 25 January)

Travel

BridgetownQ  London Q   Dubai

The Chair of Selectors said the trial match was imperative preparation because of the reduced schedule sending the West Indians straight into a Test match.  However, the match was abandoned owing to to a dangerous pitch.

The team departed from Bridgetown for London on Friday 25 January 2002, and flew into Dubai in the United Arab Emirates at midnight on Saturday 26 January. 

Runako Morton, the player replacing Samuels, left the Caribbean on Saturday 9 February and arrived in Sharjah late the next day.

Time spent in UAE

   23 days

(26 January - 18 February)

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

Runako Morton joined the tour party in place of Marlon Samuels who went to Dubai for an operation on his left knee. None of the official reserves was called for.

Sherwin Campbell was forced to miss the second Test with a broken little finger on his right hand.

Fixtures/Results

§  one-day international

Time spent in Sharjah before First Test:   5 days

(26 - 31 January)

Test appearances on tour

2  -   Chanderpaul,  Collins,  Cuffy,  Dillon,  Ganga,  Gayle,  RO Hinds,  WW Hinds,  Hooper,  Jacobs

1  -   Campbell,  Ramnarine

0  -   Brown,  Collymore,  Morton,  Samuels.

Highlights

•     Shivnarine Chanderpaul (66) and Roland Hinds (62) added 12 for the sixth wicket in the first Test.

•     Carl Hooper scored 112 and Gayle took 4 wickets in 4 overs in the consolation victory in the third ODI.

•   

Tour Summary

Return to West Indies

 SharjahQ  London Q  

The team flew out of the United Arab Emirates on 18 February 2002 and arrived back in the Caribbean on 19 February.

(25 January to 19 February)

Finances

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s finances were placed in a jeopardy by the West Indians’ refusal to play there. "If the series had been played in Pakistan as scheduled, we could have aimed for revenues of $2.5 million," PCB Chairman Tauqir Zia said. "That is not possible now."  

India had refused to tour Pakistan in  Jan-Feb for political reasons with an estimated loss of $8 to 10 million. New Zealand then cancelled their tour with the team already halfway to Pakistan as news of the 11 September attacks was unfolding, and Sri Lanka subsequently called off a planned trip.

Later in 2002 after only one match of their re-arranged tour the New Zealanders flew home when a bomb exploded near their Karachi hotel.

Pakistan asked for compensation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the Executive Board meeting in March.

Pepsi Cola International sponsored the series between Pakistan and West Indies.