Tour of Pakistan 2005-06                    Captain : Michael Vaughan         

England’s 90th Test tour.

(October  – December 2005)

Eighth Test playing tour of Pakistan by England

  (previous tour 2000-01)

A bomb blast in Lahore which killed six people and a major earthquake in northern Pakistan with more than 50,000 casualties put the tour in jeopardy before it had begun. But the programme of matches continued without alteration

England had won six consecutive Test series but this was brought to an end by two England batting collapses, in the first and third Tests, at the hands of a Pakistan bowling attack starring Shoaib Akhtar. England were inconvenienced by a string of injuries which meant that key reverse-swing bowler Simon Jones was ruled out before the series began, while Giles, Vaughan and Pietersen all had to leave the tour before its end.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

South Africa 2004-05

Next Test tour

India 2005-06

Next tour of Pakistan

none. The teams played each other inUAE in 2011-12

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:  Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick

Middle-order batsmen Ian Bell, Keven Pietersen, Michael Vaughan, Paul Collingwood,

Wicket-keeper: Geraint Jones, Matt Prior

All-rounders:  Andrew Flintoff

Slow bowlers: Ashley Giles, Shaun Udal, Alex Loudon

Fast bowlers: James Anderson, Liam Plunkett,  Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard

players won full ECB central contracts for 2005-06

County representation:

Du - Durham (3)

Ha - Hampshire (2)

Kt  -  Kent (1)

La - Lancashire (2)

Mx - Middlesex (1)

Sm - Somerset (1)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (3)

Yo - Yorkshire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(12  November 2005): 

27 yrs  6 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Trescothick 66,  Vaughan 62,  Flintoff 53,  Giles 50,  Hoggard 45,  Harmison 36,  GO Jones 20,  Strauss 19,  Anderson 12,  Bell 8,  Pietersen 5,  Collingwood 3,  Plunkett 0,  Cook 0,  Loudon 0,  Prior 0,  Udal 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

David Graveney (chairman),  Duncan Fletcher (coach), and  Michael Vaughan (captain).

Selection

Unavailable :  Darren Gough.

Tour Party Announced  : 19 September 2005

Not selected:   Chris Read,  Gareth Batty.

Withdrawn:.  Simon Jones had to withdraw from the tour on 4 October because of surgery on an ankle injury. A week later it was announced that Liam Plunkett would take his place in the squad.  On 13 October Chris Tremlett was withdrawn having failed fitness tests on his knee and hamstring injuries; he was not replaced in the team.

Shaun Udal, already in Pakistan with the Test squad, and Kabir Ali were added to the ODI team on 9 November to take Tremlett and Jones’s places in the squad.

Time between selection and departure from England

   36 days

 (19 September - 25 October)

Travel

London  Q  Dubai   Q  Islamabad

The team took off from London’s Heathrow Airport on 25 October, and arrived in Pakistan on 26 October, flying in to Islamabad international Airport.

Extremely tight security accompanyied the team as they were escorted through the VIP lounge to a coach to their hotel.

Flintoff and Harmison were in Dubai to raise funds for the Pakistan earthquake relief fund and arrived a week later.

Time spent in Pakistan

    57 days

(26 October - 22 December)

On-tour selection panel

Duncan Fletcher,  Michael Vaughan.

Reinforcements

Michael Vaughan injured his knee, twisting it while turning for a third run at Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore. Alastair Cook was called up as cover on 9 November because Owais Shah and Robert Key were not available while injuries were being treated. However, Cook did not play in a match.

Vaughan was due to go home briefly after the third Test for the birth of his child but in the end needed surgery on his knee and withdrew from the one-day series, so Marcus Trescothick took over the captaincy, and Ian Bell was added to the ODI squad.

Andrew Strauss flew back to England on 25 November to be present at the birth of his child, and returned on 6 December. 

On 26 November Ashley Giles withdrew from the limited-overs squad with a hip injury needing an operation in England. On 13 December Kevin Pietersen  was withdrawn from the limited-overs series and returned home.

Fixtures/Results

The programme of fixtures was not agreed until 26 July. The ECB refused to play a Test match in Karachi because of security concerns which caused anger in Pakistan

† not first-class

§  one-day international

Time spent in Pakistan before First Test:   17 days

(26 October - 12 November)

Test appearances on tour

3 -   Bell,  Flintoff,  Harmison,  Hoggard,  GO Jones,  Pietersen,  Trescocthick,  Udal.

2 -   Collingwood,  Giles,  Strauss,  Vaughan.

1 -   Plunkett

0 -   Anderson,  Cook,  Loudon,  Prior

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

Highlights

•  Andrew Flintoff took 4-68 and 4-88 in the first Test match at Multan

•  Marcus Trescothick scored 193 and shared in a stand worth 180 with Ian Bell (71)

•  Kevin Pietersen (100) and Ian Bell (115) made centuries in Faisalabad

•  Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick opened the innings at Lahore with a stand of 101.

•  Paul Collingwood scored 96 and 80 in the Third Test at Lahore

•  Ian Bell’s 92 at Lahore was not enough to save England who collapsed at Lahore against Akhtar and Kaneria.

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Rawalpindi  Q  Dubai   Q  London

Ashley Giles left the tour on 26 November.  Michael Vaughan returned home on Sunday 4 December, as did Test-only players Hoggard and Loudon.  Kevin Pietersen returned on 13 December

The limited-overs team returned home on 22 December 2005.

Time away from England

  58 days  

(25 October - 22 December)

Finances

 -

Accounts of the tour

 -

Postscript

-

Other Test tours in 2005-06

Australians to South Africa  & Bangladesh 2005-06  -  captain Ricky Ponting

England to India 2005-06  -  captain Andrew Flintoff

Indians to Pakistan 2005-06  -  captain Rahul Dravid

New Zealanders to South Africa 2005-06  -  captain Stephen Fleming

Pakistanis to Sri Lanka 2005-06  -  captain Inzamamul Haq

South Africans to Australia 2005-06  -  captain Graeme Smith

Sri Lankans to India 2005-06  -  captain Marvan Atapattu

Sri Lankans to Bangladesh 2005-06  -  captain Mahela Jayawardene

West Indians to Australia 2005-06  -  captain Shiv Chanderpaul

West Indians to New Zealand 2005-06  -  captain Shiv Chanderpaul