Tour of India 2001-02                     Captain : Nasser Hussain         

England’s 84th Test tour.

(November  – December  2001)

Thirteenth Test playing tour of India by England

 (previous tour  1992-93)

It was England’s first tour of India for nine years. 

The touring party had just been announced when the 11 September terrorist attack in New York occurred. Jagmohan Dalmiya, new President of the Indian Board, threatened that, if Nasser Hussain’s team opted out of their tour of India the next month, India might boycott their return trip to England in 2002. But this was a minority view.  The players were offered the chance to skip the tour without recriminations if they and their families wished.

The tour continued despite an attack on the Indian parliament by suspected militants in mid-December.

England were without recently retired Michael Atherton and the experience of Alec Stewart to open the innings, Stewart having been accused of dealing with illegal Indian bookmakers which he strenuously denied. Also staying at home were bowlers Darren Gough, who had previously requested rest, and Robert Croft and Andy Caddick, who elected not to tour for family reasons.

The first Test ended in a heavy defeat by ten wickets, although England had the better of the next two drawn matches. Hussain’s strategy of restricting Tendulkar with leg-side bowling at Bangalore caused controversy but proved effective. In the end the Test series was lost. The players then went home for Christmas and returned to India in January for a limited-overs series of six one-day matches before flying on to New Zealand for a further tour.

All England tours

Previous Test tour

Sri Lanka 2000-01

Next Test tour

New Zealand 2001-02

Next tour of India

2005-06

Members of the Test tour party (16  +  1)

Opening batsmen:  Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher

Middle-order batsmen Usman Afzaal, Michael Vaughan, Nasser Hussain, Mark Ramprakash, Graham Thorpe

Wicket-keeper: James Foster, Warren Hegg

All-rounders:  Craig White,Andrew Flintoff (reinforcement)

Slow bowlers: Martyn Ball, Richard Dawson, Ashley Giles

Fast bowlers: Matthew Hoggard, Jimmy Ormond, Richard Johnson.

ECB contracts:

Nasser Hussain (Essex), Michael Atherton (Lancashire), Andrew Caddick (Somerset), Dominic Cork (Derbyshire), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire), Darren Gough (Yorkshire), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Alec Stewart (Surrey), Graham Thorpe (Surrey), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire), Craig White (Yorkshire)

County representation:

Ex  -  Essex (2)

Gs - Gloucestershire (1)

La - Lancashire (1)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)

Sm - Somerset (2)

Sy - Surrey (4)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(3 December 2001): 

28 yrs  1 month

⋄ On 29 March 2001 the ECB named players with six-month central contracts:

ODI  Chosen for the six one-day matches on return to India in January

Test Appearances made before the tour

Thorpe 69,  Hussain 63,  Ramprakash 46,  Butcher 32,  White 21,  Trescothick 16,  Vaughan 11,  Flintoff 9,  Giles 8,  Usman Afzaal 3,  Hegg 2,  Hoggard 2,  Ormond 1,  Ball 0,  Dawson 0,  Foster 0,   Johnson 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

David Graveney (chairman),  Duncan Fletcher (coach), and  Nasser Hussain (captain)

Selection

Not available:  Michael Atherton (announced retirement); Darren Gough (said he needed a winter’s break) and Alec Stewart (family reasons).

Tour Party Announced:   28 August 2001.

Craig White (knee) and Ashley Giles (achilles) were selected subject to fitness tests.  Jimmy Ormond was later required to take a fitness test on his knee.

Not selected:   Dominic Cork.

Withdrawn:. Five players - Caddick, Croft, Giles, Trescothick and White - had expressed doubts about whether to tour because of the tensions in the region after the 11 September attacks. On 30 October Caddick and Croft pulled out of the tour and were replaced by Martyn Ball and Richard Johnson

Limited-overs tour squad named:  3 January 2002

Andy Caddick. Paul Collingwood, Darren Gough, Ben Hollioake, Nick Knight, Owais Shah and Jeremy Snape were added to the team. Craig White was not available as he was having surgery on his knee.

Time between selection and departure from England

   78 days

 (28 August - 14 November)

Travel

London  Q  Mumbai

On 14 November flew from London’s Heathrow Airport on a BA flight and landed at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, at midnight amid tight security.

Time spent in India

    63 days  (39 + 24 )

(15 November  -  24 December)

(11 January - 4 February)

On-tour selection panel

Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher.

Andrew Flintoff was drafted in from the England Academy after the start of the tour.

Graham Thorpe went home for personal reasons before the second Test without replacement. In the New Year he was able to rejoin his England team mates for the one-day series

Fixtures/Results

The Test tour ended on 24 December. England returned to India in January for the one-day matches and flew on to New Zealand for a further tour

England agreed to add a sixth one-day international to the original five planned

† not first-class

§  one-day international

Time spent in India before First Test:   18 days

(15 November - 3 December)

Test appearances on tour

3 -   Butcher,  Dawson,  Flintoff,  Foster,  Hoggard,  Hussain,  Ramprakash,  Trescothick,  White.

2 -   Giles,  Vaughan.

1 -   Ormond,  Thorpe.

0 -   Afzaal,  Ball,  Hegg,  Johnson.

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

Usman Afzaal, Warren Hegg and Owais Shah did not play in a match on tour

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

•  Hussain and Trescothick began the Test series with a partnership of 125 at Mohali before the Indian spinners got to work and England lost their last seven first innings wickets for 38 runs. 

•  At Ahmedabad Butcher (51 and 92) shared in century partnerships with Trescothick and Hussain.

•  After Trescothick was dismissed for 99, Craig White scored his only Test century (121)

•  Ashley Giles took 5-67 in 43 overs.

•  Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff each took four wickets at Bangalore to give England a 100-run lead

•  Nick Knight scored 105 in the ODI at Delhi and Ashley Giles took another 5-57 in England’s narrow win.

Tour Summary

F  Fixtures   W  Won   L  Lost   D Drawn   T  Tied  Canc  Cancelled  Aban  abandoned

Return to England

Mumbai   Q London

Thorpe returned home early for personal reasons just before the second Test in Ahmedabad, but made himself available again for the ODI series in January.

The team flew home from Mumbai to Heathrow Airport on 24 December 2001.

Time away from England

  40 days  

(14 November - 24 December)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript