Tour of Australia 2002-03                    Captain : Nasser Hussain         

England’s 86th Test tour

(October  – January 2003)

38th Test playing tour of Australia by England

  (previous tour 1998-99)

Under the Hussain-Fletcher partnership England’s recovery from the debacle of 1999 had started impressively : West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were beaten, but then had followed series defeats by Australia, India (away) and Sri Lanka, while India (at home) and New Zealand could only be held to a draw. Faced now with competing against the most dominant side in modern cricket, England needed its best players to be performing at the peak of their ability.

Losing Graham Thorpe, who decided not to tour after all only two weeks after being persuaded to play, undermined that hope from the start. That injury followed injury was undoubtedly a significant factor. Unbalanced by the loss of Darren Gough before the series even began, England failed to keep the bowling attack fit and played without Flintoff at all, while Giles, Simon Jones, Silverwood and Tudor were able to appear in only one Test match each.

Sure enough, England soon folded against Australia. Nasser Hussain mistakenly put Australia in to bat at Brisbane, and in no time at all England had lost the Ashes, going down to a third consecutive defeat at Perth. Michael Vaughan had the series of his life with three centuries among his 633 runs, but England’s batsmen frequently wilted under the pressure of a strong all-round bowling attack, in which Gillespie and McGrath starred. A compensation victory, too late, came in the final Test match at Sydney.

All England tours

Previous Test tour

New Zealand 2001-02

Next Test tour

Sri Lanka & Bangladesh

2003-04

Next tour of  Australia

2006-07

Members of the Test tour party (16  + 4)

Opening batsmen:  Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan

Middle-order batsmen Mark Butcher, Robert Key, Nasser Hussain, John Crawley,

Wicket-keeper: Alec Stewart, James Foster.

All-rounders:  Andrew Flintoff

Slow bowlers: Richard Dawson, Ashley Giles

Fast bowlers: Andy Caddick, Darren Gough, Simon Jones,  Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard.

County representation:

Dm - Durham (1)

Ex  -  Essex (2)

Gm - Glamorgan (1)

Kt  -  Kent (1)

La - Lancashire (2)

Sm - Somerset (2)

Sy - Surrey (2)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

   (7 November 2002): 

     28 yrs  2 months.

⋄  holders of central contracts

Test Appearances made before the tour

Stewart 122,  Hussain 76,  Caddick 58,  Gough 56,  Butcher 45,  Crawley 34,  Trescothick 26,  White 26,  Vaughan 23,  Flintoff 21,  Giles 18,  Hoggard 15,  Tudor 9,  Foster 6,  Silverwood 5,  Dawson 3,  Key 2,  Jones 1,  Harmison 1.

Tour Officials

Kirk Russell who had been Northamptonshire’s physiotherapist for eight years joined the England team from 2002 to end of the Ashes in Australia 2011.

Selectors

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

Selection

Not considered:   Ian Bell (stress fracture in back)

Tour Party Announced  : 10 September 2002

Not selected:   Alex Tudor

Withdrawn: Graham Thorpe on 24 September for personal family reasons. He was replaced by Robert Key.

Time between selection and departure from England

   37 days

 (10 September - 17 October)

Travel

London  Q  Dubai   Q  Perth

Nasser Hussain flew out a week before the main squad.  The team left Heathrow Airport, London, on 17 October 2002, and arrived in Perth on 19 October

Time spent in Australia

    days

(19 October - 

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

Craig White, who was already in Adelaide, joined the tour party when Andrew Flintoff was unable to play to allow time to regain fitness after his hernia operation. White later tore a side muscle and missed the fifth Test

Alex Tudor  was brought into the Test squad on 4 November to cover for Gough and Harmison (shin splints), then Darren Gough had to return home on 9 November because of his knee injury.

Chris Silverwood  was drafted in for Simon Jones, who had to return home after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee fielding in the first Test but Silverwood himself strained an ankle ligament and had to return home.

Paul Collingwood who was playing grade cricket in Melbourne joined the tour party on 24 November as cover for injured batsmen Michael Vaughan and John Crawley.

Jeremy Snape broke his thumb batting in his first match, which put him out of the tour.

Four county players (Will Jefferson, Darren Maddy, Ian Fisher, Chris Liptrot) turned out for the England XI in the match against the ECB Cricket Academy for whom Kabir Ali and Chris Read played.

Adam Hollioake was called into the ODI squad when Ashley Giles (fractured wrist) and Flintoff (hernia) went home early (both returned a few weeks later).

Fixtures/Results

In first match England played 13 and the ACB Chairman’s XI played 12

† not first-class

§ one-day international (VB series)

Time spent in Australia before First Test:   

       19 days

(19 October- 7 November)

Test appearances on tour

5  -   Butcher,  Hussain,  Trescothick,  Vaughan, 

4  -   Caddick,  Dawson,  Harmison,  Key,  Stewart,  White

3  -   Crawley,  Hoggard, 

2  - 

1  -   Foster, Giles, Jones,  Silverwood, Tudor.

0  -   Gough,  Flintoff,  Collingwood.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

∙  played for opposition

 W won  L lost  D drawn  T tied

N no result   A abandoned

u unknown result

Four county players (Will Jefferson, Darren Maddy, Ian Fisher, Chris Liptrot) turned out for the England XI in match n against the ECB Cricket Academy for whom Kabir Ali and Chris Read played.

Apart from those four, thirty different players were members of the England side during the tour.