A feature of the tour was that England suffered almost ceaseless
injury problems. Gooch, Lamb, Morris, Hemmings, Small and Fraser were all
unable to play for lengthy periods and Lewis was forced to return home early.
Only three reinforcements were required and Morris was sent back home after
appearing in only two minor matches.
All the same the injuries played their part in disrupting the
team, as did the incident of the ‘Tiger Moth’ flight by David Gower and John
Morris at Carrara,
for which they were fined £1000 . Gooch was ruled out of the opening Test
match and after losing at Brisbane, England were never competitive, batting
poorly (notable exceptions were two sparkling centuries from David Gower)
and, as Gooch said, “We fielded so poorly that the crowd began laughing at
us”. The Test series ended in a three-nil defeat.
Nor were England
able to reach the final of the one-day tri-series with New Zealand in the middle of the
Ashes series. At the end of the tour Gooch criticised the commitment and
attitude of some players.
Opening batsmen:Wayne Larkins, Mike Atherton, Graham Gooch
Middle-order batsmenDavid Gower, Allan Lamb,
John Morris, Robin Smith, Alec Stewart
Wicket-keeper:Jack Russell
Slow bowlers: Eddie Hemmings, Phil Tufnell
Fast bowlers: Martin Bicknell, Angus Fraser,
Chris Lewis, Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small.
M A
Atherton
La
22
RHB opener
M P
Bicknell
Sy
21
RFM
A R C
Fraser
Mx
25
RFM
G A Gooch
Ex
37
RHBcaptain
D I
Gower
Ha
33
LHB
E E Hemmings
Nt
41
OB
A J
Lamb
Nth
36
RHBvice-
captain
W N Larkins
Nth
36
RHB opener
C C
Lewis
Le
22
RFM
D E
Malcolm
Dy
27
RF
J E
Morris
Dy
26
RHB
R C
Russell
Gs
27
WK
G C
Small
Wk
28
RFM
R A
Smith
Ha
27
RHB
A J
Stewart
Sy
27
RHBsecond WK
P R C
Tufnell
Mx
24
SLA
County representation:
Dy – Derbyshire (2)
Ex-Essex (1)
Gs - Gloucestershire (1)
Ha - Hampshire (2)
La - Lancashire
(1)
Le -Leicestershire (1)
Mx - Middlesex (2)
Nth - Northamptonshire (2)
Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)
Sy - Surrey
(2)
Wk - Warwickshire (1)
Average age ofteam at time of first Test match
(23 November 1990):
29 yrs4 months.
Test Appearances
made before the tour
Gower 109, Gooch 81, Lamb 67, Smith 18, DeFreitas 17, Russell 17, Hemmings 15, Small 13, Malcolm 11, Larkins 10, Atherton 8, Fraser 8, Stewart 7, Lewis 3, Morris, J. 3, Newport 2, Bicknell 0, Tufnell 0, Morris, H. 0.
Tour
Officials
Peter Lush
Tour Manager
Micky Stewart
Cricket Manager
Laurie Brown
Physiotherapist
Clem Driver
Scorer
Selectors
Ted Dexter (chairmanof selectors), Micky Stewart (coach) and Graham Gooch (captain).
Selection
Unavailable:Ian Botham was asked whether available but apparently did not
reply.
Tour Party Announced : onSeptember 1990.
Not selected:
Withdrawn:.
Time between selection and departure from England
x days
(September - 18 October)
Travel
LondonQPerth
Pre-tour Training was held at Lilleshall between
9-11 October. The TCCB was displeased
that members of the team had earlier appeared two exhibition matches in New York and Toronto.
The players missed a last evening at home as they assembled at
the Excelsior Hotel the night before their flight out... but it was so that
Graham Gooch could be surprised as the subject of This is Your Life before flying from Heathrow Airport the next
day, on 18 October 1990.
Arrived in Perth
on
Time spent in Australia
days
(19
October -6 February)
On-tour
selection panel
Graham Gooch (captain),
Micky Stewart (cricket manager), Peter Lush
(tour manager) and Allan Lamb (vice-captain)
Reinforcements
H
Morris
Gm
30
LHB opener
Hugh Morris was called up to cover
for Gooch whose finger injury turned septic - Morris returned to England on 3
January to take up the England A team captaincy. Allan Lamb missed the 2nd
and 3rd Tests with a calf injury.
P A J
DeFreitas
La
26
RFM
Phil DeFreitas was drafted in when Gladstone
Small was unfit, Chris Lewis having gone home earlier with a stress
fracture of the back.
P J Newport
Wo
28
RFM
Philip Newport flew in from the England ‘A’ team tour of Sri Lanka after Angus Fraserinjured his hip.
Fixtures/Results
a
† Lilac Hill
WA President’s XI
Won 6 w
b
† Geraldton
WA Country XI
Drawn
c
† Perth
WA Invitation XI
Lost 3 w
d
Perth
Western Australia
Drawn
e
† Port Pirie
South Australia
Country XI
Won 111 r
f
Adelaide
South Australia
Lost 6 w
g
† Hobart
Tasmania
Won 8 w
h
Hobart
Australian XI
Drawn
i
BRISBANE
AUSTRALIAFirst Test
LOST 10 w
j
† Adelaide
Australian Academy
Won 5 w
k
† Adelaide
Australian Academy
Won 150 r
l
§ Adelaide
New Zealand(1st ODI)
Lost 7 r
m
† Canberra
Prime Minister’s XI
Lost 31 r
n
§Perth
New Zealand (2nd ODI)
Won 4 w
o
§Perth
Australia (3rd ODI)
Lost 6 w
p
† Bowral
Bradman Invitation XII
Lost 7 w
q
§ Sydney
New Zealand (4th ODI)
Won 33 r
r
§ Brisbane
New Zealand (5th ODI)
Lost 8 w
s
§Brisbane
Australia(6th ODI)
Lost 37 r
t
Ballarat
Victoria
Drawn
u
MELBOURNE
AUSTRALIASecond Test
LOST 8 w
v
§ Sydney
Australia(7th ODI)
Lost 68 r
w
SYDNEY
AUSTRALIAThird Test
DRAWN
x
§Melbourne
Australia(8th ODI)
Lost 3 r
y
Albury
New South Wales
Lost 6 w
z
Carrara
Queensland
Won 10 w
a’
ADELAIDE
AUSTRALIAFourth Test
DRAWN
b’
PERTH
AUSTRALIAFifth Test
LOST 9 w
c’
§ Christchurch
New Zealand(1st ODI)
Won 14 r
d’
§ Wellington
New Zealand(2nd ODI)
Lost 9 r
e’
§ Auckland
New Zealand(3rd ODI)
Lost 7 r
† not first-class
§one-day internationals (Benson & Hedges World Series Cup) and
(Bank of New Zealand series)
Chris Lewis returned home early with a
back injury.
Left Australia
on approx 6 February, some players returning from Perth
to London.
Flew to New Zealand to play three ODIs
for the New Zealand Bank trophy.
Leaving Auckland
on 17 February, England
flew in to Heathrow
Airport, almost
unnoticed, on Monday 18 February 1991.
Time away from England
123 days
(18
October - 18 February)
Accounts
of the tour
Postscript
David Gower was not necessarily the player who Graham Gooch had
in mind when he accused some of his team of poor attitude and commitment. But
Gower’s airy swish at the last ball before lunch in Adelaide, which was
caught by the man obviously placed there for the catch, seemed to be the last
straw and meant that there was no place for him in England’s Test side for
the start of the series against West Indies in 1991. He divided opinion as
someone who could not subscribe to the hard graft ethic of Gooch and Micky
Stewartyet a batsman who could turn
out Test centuries such as at Melbourne and Sydney.