Tour of  South Africa 1999-2000          Captain : Nasser Hussain          

England’s 8oth Test tour

(October 1999 -

                 February 2000)

Sixteenth Test-playing tour of South Africa by England         

    (previous tour 1995-96)

The tour party, newly-branded as Team England under the leadership of skipper Nasser Hussain and coach Duncan Fletcher, determined to escape their position at the foot of the ICC Test rankings but it proved a disappointing tour. England lost the five-Test series by a 2-1 margin. Even their consolation victory at Centurion Park turned out to be phoney. Hansie Cronje had fixed the match with bookmakers to ensure there would be a result one way or another.

The Test series began with a defeat when England fell victim to a poor pitch at Johannesburg but they fought back and made South Africa follow on at Durban. Then the fourth Test saw the South Africans’ powerful side dominate an innings defeat, before England’s hollow victory at Centurion.

New coach Fletcher had his influence on choosing a side full of new faces.  Four of the tour party - Adams, Vaughan, Hamilton, Swann - had yet to make their Test debuts while four others had only nine caps between them. None made much impression on this series.

Hussain was the best batsman on England’s side, with reliable support from Stewart and Atherton, his predecessors as captains, but little from the new caps Adams, Maddy or Vaughan whose time was yet to come. The bowlers, of whom Caddick was near his best, were all outshone by the South Africans.

All England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia 1998-99

Next Test tour

Pakistan 2000-01

Next tour of  South Africa

2004-05

Members of the Test tour party (17)

Opening batsmen:  Mike Atherton, Mark Butcher.

Middle-order batsmen Nasser Hussain, Chris Adams, Michael Vaughan, Darren Maddy

Wicket-keepers: Alec Stewart, Chris Read

All-rounders:  Andrew Flintoff, Gavin Hamilton.

Slow bowlers: Phil Tufnell, Graeme Swann.

Fast bowlers: Andrew Caddick, Alan Mullally, Darren Gough, Alex Tudor, Dean Headley (replaced byChris Silverwood)

County representation:

Ex –  Essex (1)

Kt  -  Kent (1)

La  -  Lancashire (2)

Le  -  Leicestershire (2)

Mx  -  Middlesex (1)

Nth  -  Northamptonshire (1)

Nt  -  Nottingham shire (1)

Sm  -  Somerset (1)

Sy  -  Surrey (3)

Sx  -  Sussex (1)

Yo  -  Yorkshire (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(25 November 1999): 

27 years  11 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Stewart 90,  Atherton 89,  Hussain 42,  Tufnell 38,  Gough 31,  Caddick 25,  Butcher 22,  Mullally 16,  Headley 15,  Read 3,  Tudor 3,  Flintoff 2,  Maddy 1,  Adams 0,  Hamilton 0,  Swann 0,  Vaughan 0.

Tour Officials

Nigel Stockill started his role with England as fitness consultant, which became retitled as physiologist and then sports science manager.

Selectors

David Graveney (chairman of selectors),  Nasser Hussain,  Duncan Fletcher (coach) 

Selection

Not considered: 

Tour Party Announced  : 30 August 1999.

Not selected:   Dominic Cork,  Ed Giddins,  Mark Ramprakash, Graham Thorpe.

Gough, Headley and Tudor were selected subject to fitness tests, with Chris Silverwood standing by.

Other stand-bys:  Graeme Hick and Nick Knight. However, when Vaughan injured his finger, Mark Ramprakash was flown out as cover instead of them.

Time between selection and departure from England

   57 days

 (30 August - 26 October)

Travel

London  Q  Johannesburg

The tour party assembled in London on Monday 25 October 1999 and flew out next day. They arrived after an 11-hour flight in Johannesburg, South Africa. Following an official press conference at Sandton Hotel, they practised at Centurion Park next day.

The one-day squad players arrived in South Africa on 6 January and left for Zimbabwe on 14 February 2000.

Time spent in South Africa

       110 days

(26 October - 14 February)

and Zimbabwe 10 days

(14 - 24 February)

On-tour selection panel

In October Duncan Fletcher announced that the tour’s “think tank” would be  Nasser Hussain (captain),  Duncan Fletcher (coach),  Mike Atheron and Alec Stewart;  but the captain and coach selected the sides.

Atherton, Butcher, Gough and Tufnell formed a committee to run the rest of the tour’s business.

Reinforcements

Chris Silverwood was brought in from New Zealand, where he had been with the England A tour party, as a replacement for Dean Headley who had a stress fracture in his back and, having bowled only ten balls on the tour, had to return home early.

Silverwood was also covering for Andrew Flintoff (back injury) and Darren Gough (calf strain). Alan Mullally was out of action from the end of November with a side strain and not fit again until the fifth Test. Andrew Flintoff had to return home after breaking a toe in the fourth Test, and Craig White (playing for Central Districts in New Zealand)took his place in the one-day squad.

Mark Ramprakash flew out to join the tour on Wed 22 December as cover for Michael Vaughan (finger injury) but did not play and returned home on  c9 January.

Four members of the recently-arrived limited-overs squad (Hick who captained, Ealham, Knight and Solanki) appeared against the Invitation XI at Port Elizabeth in order to rest Test players.

Fixtures/Results

⋆  12-a-side  single innings

† not first-class

§  one-day internationals (Standard Bank Triangular series)

Time spent in South Africa before First Test:   2 days

(29? October - 25 November)

Test appearances on tour

5  -    Adams,  Atherton,  Butcher,  Caddick,  Gough,  Hussain,  Stewart.

4  -    Flintoff,  Silverwood,  Vaughan

3  -    Tufnell

2  -    Maddy,  Mullally

1  -    Hamilton

0  -    Headley,  Read,  Swann,  Tudor.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x  other match 

W won    L lost    D drawn

N no result    A abandoned

u unknown result