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Test Cricket Tours - West Indies
to India 1978-79
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Tour of India
1978-79 Captain: Alvin Kallicharran
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22nd official Test tour
Third Test-playing tours of India by
West Indies
(November 1978 -
March 1979)
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The
West Indies authorities were at first the only cricket board prepared to
pick their 'Packer' players for Test Matches. This all changed when the
players who had signed to play in the 1978-79 season in Australia did not
make themselves available for West Indies' fifth tour of India. Before
Packer could respond with his proposals to enable them to join the tour,
the West Indies Cricket Board ruled out some twenty of their best
cricketers and went ahead with those who were available.
Alvin
Kallicharran, the only major player not to commit
to playing World Series Cricket, was made captain. Most of the players,
solid performers in the Shell Shield, would not have expected to get near
to the Test team. With every one of West Indies' top forty players out of
the Caribbean, the Shell Shield was put back until March.
When
the West Indies Board later announced it would consider World Series
Cricket contracted plavers for the Prudential
World Cup in England in June 1979, members of this tour party expressed
their "displeasure and dissatisfaction" and said the tour was in
jeopardy - after all, they were keeping the West Indies flag flying.
It
was India's first six-Test series, and the home country won the only Test
match to reach a conclusion. India (and notably Sunil Gavaskar)
held the upper hand after the first Test was narrowly drawn with West
Indies complaining about partial umpiring. Although there were five drawn
matches, this does not disclose India's supremacy. West Indies were saved
from defeat in one Test by the threat of crowd disturbances and in another
by bad light. India had beaten West Indies only once before, in the 1970-71
series.
The
last day of the second Test match at Bangalore was abandoned due to violent
disturbances following the jailing of Indira Gandhi.
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Other West Indies tours
Previous tour
England 1976
Next tour
Australia
1979-80
Next tour of India
1983-84
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Members of the Test tour party (17)
Openers
Alvin Greenidge, Faoud
Bacchus, Basil Williams
Batsmen Alvin Kallicharran,
Larry Gomes, Herbert Chang, Sew Shivnarine.
Wicket-keepers
David Murray, Randall Lyon
Spin bowlers
Errol Brown, Raphick Jumadeen,
Derick Parry
Fast bowlers
Sylvester Clarke, Norbert Phillip, Vanburn
Holder, Malcolm Marshall.
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S F A Bacchus
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G
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24
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RHB
opener
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E E Brown
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J
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26
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OB
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H S Chang
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J
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26
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LHB
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S T Clarke
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B
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23
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RF
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H A Gomes
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T
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25
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LHB
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A E Greenidge
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B
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22
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RHB
opener
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V A Holder
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B
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33
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RFM
vice-captain
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R R Jumadeen
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T
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30
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SLA
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A I Kallicharran
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G
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29
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LHB
captain
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J R Lyon
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T
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26
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second WK
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M D Marshall
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B
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20
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RFM
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D A Murray
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B
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28
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WK
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D R Parry
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L
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23
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OB
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N
Phillip
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W
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29
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RFM
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S
Shivnarine
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G
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26
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RHB
SLA
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A
B Williams
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J
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29
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RHB
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Representation of teams:
B -
Barbados (5)
G - Guyana (3)
J
- Jamaica (3)
L -
Leeward Islands (1)
T - Trinidad & Tobago (3)
W -
Windward islands (1)
Average age of team at time of first Test match
(1 December 1978) : 27 yrs 9 months
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Test Appearances made before the tour
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Kallicharran
45, Holder 36, Jumadeen
10, Gomes 5, Parry 5,
Murray 3, Phillip 3, Shivnarine 3, Williams 3, Bacchus 2, Greenidge
2, Clarke 1, Brown 0,
Chang 0, Lyon 0, Marshall 0.
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Team Officials
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Joe Solomon
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Manager
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Lloyd Ali
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Assistant manager
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Physiotherapist
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Ramcharitvar Rickhi, secretary of the West Indies' Umpires Union,
made the tour at his own expense and assisted the team.
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Selectors
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M C
Carew (chairman), C L Walcott, J K C Holt met at the Holiday Inn in Port
of Spain.
Alvin
Kallicharran was named as captain on 12 August
and helped pick the remainder of the team.
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Selection
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Unavailable: Most of the leading West Indies players were
already committed to World Series Cricket in Australia. They had been asked
to declare their availability by 23 March.
It was announced on 3 August that none of them would be included.
The first seven players (Kallicharran,
Holder, Gomes, Alvin Greenidge, Parry, Phillip
and Williams) who formed the heart of the team were announced on 4
April. The West Indies Board ensured
that they would sign a tour contract before the World Series Cricket organisation could sign them up.
On 1 May it was decided to pick the next nine
names later as a strike by airline staff prevented the Chairman of
Selectors, Joey Carew, from getting a flight to Kingston, Jamaica, to join
the rest of the panel.
Tour
Party Announced: 14 August 1978.
Not
selected : Irving Shillingford,
Victor Eddy and Sheldon Gomes.
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Travel
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The
team flew from Barbados on 8 November 1978.
After a three-day stopover in London, staying at a hotel in
Lancaster Gate, they landed in Bombay on 13 November. The manager preferred
to answer all WSC-related questions at a later press conference, once
refreshed.
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On-tour selection committee
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Kallicharran, Holder, Solomon.
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Reinforcements
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None
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Fixtures/Results
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Indore
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Central Zone
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Won 263 r
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Poona
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Indian Colts (under-22)
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Drawn
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Vadodara
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West Zone
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Drawn
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BOMBAY
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INDIA First Test
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DRAWN
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Hyderabad
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South Zone
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Drawn
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BANGALORE
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INDIA Second Test
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DRAWN
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Jamshedpur
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East Zone
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Won inns 61 r
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CALCUTTA
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INDIA Third Test
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DRAWN
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Bombay
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Board President's XI
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Drawn
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MADRAS
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INDIA Fourth Test
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LOST
3 w
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Jalandhar
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North Zone
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Drawn
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DELHI
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INDIA Fifth Test
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DRAWN
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KANPUR
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INDIA Sixth Test
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DRAWN
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Ahmedabad
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Karnataka
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Lost 11 r
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†Moratuwa
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Sri Lanka Board President's (50
overs)
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Lost 7 w
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Colombo CCC
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Sri Lanka Board President's XI
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Drawn
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†Galle
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Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI (45 overs)
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Won 113 r
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Colombo (P Sara)
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Sri Lanka
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Drawn
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†Colombo
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Sri Lanka (45 overs)
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Won 6 w
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†not first-class
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Test appearances on tour
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6
- Bacchus, Gomes,
Holder, Kallicharran, Murray,
Parry, Phillip,
5
- Clarke, Shivnarine
4
- Greenidge, Williams
3
- Marshall
2
- Jumadeen
1
- Chang
0 - Brown,
Lyon.
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Highlights
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• Kallicharran’s
187 in the first Test at Bombay was his highest Test score.
• West Indies last pair saved the third
Test when an appeal against the light was upheld with only eleven
deliveries remaining. The crowd
threw missiles as they dashed off the pitch.
• Faoud Bacchus,
having made 96 in the 2nd Test, scored his first Test century at Kanpur - a
massive 250.
• Kallicharran
(98) and Gomes (91) also made nineties. Basil Williams (111) was the only
other centurion.
• The pitches were so lifeless that
Norbert Phillip topped West Indies’ averages with 15 wickets @ 31.
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Tour Summary
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P
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W
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L
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D
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Aban
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Test
Matches
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6
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0
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1
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5
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-
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Other
first-class matches
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10
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2
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1
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7
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-
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Minor
matches
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3
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2
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1
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0
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-
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All
Matches
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19
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4
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3
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12
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-
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Return to West Indies
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After
the Sri Lankan section of the tour, the team flew out of Banderanaike International Airport on 26 February, via
Madras, to Bombay and then to London.
Kallicharran
remained in England. The manager Joe
Solomon and all the players arrived at Seawell
Airport on 3 March. Solomon, Lloyd Ali, Shivnarine and Bacchus flew on to
Georgetown the next day.
Holder
announced his retirement from Test cricket.
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Finances
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Published accounts of the tour
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