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Tour
of West Indies 1977-78
Captain: Bob Simpson
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Fortieth Australian Test tour
Fourth Test-playing tour of West Indies by Australia
((February
to May 1978)
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The first overseas venture by an
Australian side without its Packer stars. They were outclassed in the first
two Test matches by a full-strength West Indian side. This was a very
different prospect from playing India a month before, until a strike by the
West Indies' WSC players put the two sides on a more equal footing for the
third Test which was won by a more confident Australian team. The batsmen
could not maintain the form they had found in Georgetown, however, and
collapsed for 94 to lose the fourth Test and concede the series. The final
Test was controversially abandoned as a draw after crowd disturbances
denied Australia a face-saving victory
There was an age barrier between the
captain and his young, inexperienced side and he was not well-liked. They
switched off from the 'tirades of the fogeyish Simpson' ('The Cricket
War' Gideon Haigh). After the
tour Simpson declared his candidacy to continue as Australian skipper but
was not required.
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Other Australian Tours
Previous tour
England 1977
Next tour
India 1979-80
Next tour of West Indies
1983-84
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Members of the Test tour party (15
+ 1)
Opening batsmen:
Graeme Wood, Rick Darling
Middle-order batsmen:
Gary Cosier, Kim Hughes, Craig Sarjeant, Bob Simpson, Peter Toohey,
Graham Yallop (reinforced by David Ogilvie) .
Wicket-keeper:
Steve Rixon
Spin bowlers: Jim Higgs, Bruce Yardley
Fast bowlers:
Ian Callen, Trevor Laughlin, Wayne
Clark, Jeff Thomson
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I
W Callen
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Vic
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22
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RFM
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W
M Clark
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WA
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24
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RF
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G
J Cosier
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Qld
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24
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RHB
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W
M Darling
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SA
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20
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RHB opener
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J
D Higgs
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Vic
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27
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LBG
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K
J Hughes
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WA
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24
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RHB
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T
J Laughlin
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Vic
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27
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LHB RM
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S
J Rixon
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NSW
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24
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WK
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C
S Serjeant
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WA
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26
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RHB
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R
B Simpson
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NSW
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42
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RHB captain
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J
R Thomson
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Qld
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27
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RF vice-captain
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P
M Toohey
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NSW
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23
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RHB
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G
M Wood
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WA
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21
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LHB opener
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G
N Yallop
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Vic
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25
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LHB
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B
Yardley
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WA
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30
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OB
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State representation
Sheffield Shield teams
NSW
- New South Wales (3)
Qld
- Queensland (2)
SA
- South Australia (1)
Tas
- Tasmania (0)
Vic
- Victoria (4)
WA
- Western Australia (5)
Average
age of team at time of first Test
match
(3
March 1978) :
26 yrs 2 months
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Test Appearances made before the tour
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Simpson
57, Thomson 27, Cosier 13, Serjeant
7, Clark 5, Rixon 5, Toohey
5, Yallop 4, Hughes 3, Callen 1, Darling 1, Wood
1, Yardley 1, Higgs 0, Laughlin 0.
[Ogilvie 3].
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Tour Officials
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F
W C 'Fred' Bennett
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Tour
Manager
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Physiotherapist
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Selectors
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Neil
Harvey (New South Wales), Sam Loxton (Victoria) and Phil Ridings (South
Australia) chose the team.
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Selection
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The manager was appointed on 22 December 1977.
Bob Simpson notified the Board on 12 January
that he was available and willing to lead and rebuild the Australian side.
Had Simpson not been prepared to take the team to the West Indies, Craig Serjeant would have been captain.
Unavailable: A
condition of selection had been that players were available for Australian
Cricket Board-controlled matches in 1978-79, which effectively ruled out
the World Series Cricket (WSC) players.
On 9 January fourteen WSC players had sent a letter to the
Australian Cricket Board expressing their wish to take part in the tour of
West Indies.
Tour
Party Announced : 20 January 1978.
Not selected
: No World Series Cricket players were in
the team. Kerry Packer said on 20 February that he would release Australian WSC players for the
Caribbean tour but this was ignored.
Having been excused his WSC contract because he
was already contracted to a radio station to continue playing Test cricket, Jeff Thomson was named vice-captain on 25
January. Previously, the selectors had named Yallop
and Serjeant before him.
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Time between selection and departure
from Australia
23 days
(20 January - 12 February
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Travel
Sydney Q
Antigua
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The
team flew from Sydney on 12 February and made a stopover in San Francisco
before flying on to New York. There was a strike by British West Indies
Airline (BWIA) pilots so they flew to St John's, Antigua, on a chartered Primair Heron, landing on 14 February.
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Time spent in West Indies
80 days
(14 February - 5 May)
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On-tour selection
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Bob Simpson (captain), Fred Bennett (manager), Jeff Thomson (vice-captain).
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Reinforcements
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A
D Ogilvie
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Q
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26
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RHB opener
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David Ogilvie
joined the tour party because Kim Hughes needed an appendix operation and
Peter Toohey broke his thumb. He arrived on 11
March after a 35-hour flight.
Graham Yallop's
jaw was broken by a ball from Croft in the Guyana match forcing him to miss
the third Test. Gary Cosier's thumb was broken
while playing Windward Islands.
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Fixtures / Results
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a
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Basseterre
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Leeward
Islands
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Won
183 r
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b
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§
St John’s
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West
Indies (1st ODI)
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Lost
scoring rate
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c
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Port
of Spain
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Trinidad
& Tobago
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Won
6 w
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d
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PORT
OF SPAIN
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WEST
INDIES First Test
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LOST
inns 106 r
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e
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Bridgetown
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Barbados
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Drawn
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f
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BRIDGETOWN
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WEST
INDIES Second Test
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LOST
9 w
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g
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Georgetown
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Guyana
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Drawn
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h
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GEORGETOWN
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WEST
INDIES Third Test
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WON
3 w
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i
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St
George’s, Grenada
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Windward
Islands
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Won
52 r
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j
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§
Castries, St Lucia
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West
Indies (2nd ODI)
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Won
2 w
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k
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PORT
OF SPAIN
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WEST
INDIES Fourth Test
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LOST
198 r
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l
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Kingston
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Jamaica
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Won
2 w
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m
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KINGSTON
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WEST
INDIES Fifth Test
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DRAWN
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n
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ϯ
Hamilton
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Bermuda
Board President’s XI
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Won
190 r
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o
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ϯ
Somerset CC
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Bermuda
under-25s
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Won
5 w
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p
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ϯ
Southampton Oval
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Somers
Isle Cricket League
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Won
181 r
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q
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ϯ
Hamilton
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Bermuda
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No
result
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r
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ϯ
St George’s
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Combined
Counties XI
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Won
145 r
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â€
not
first-class
§ one-day international
Time
spent in West Indies before First Test:
17 days
(14
February - 3 March)
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Test appearances on tour
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5 - Rixon, Serjeant,
Simpson, Thomson, Wood, Yardley.
4 - Clark, Higgs, Yallop.
3
- Cosier, Darling, Toohey
2 - Laughlin, Ogilvie.
1 -
0
- Callen, Hughes.
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Highlights
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•
Australia were set 362 to win the third Test at Bourda
and recovered from 22 for 3 thanks to centuries from Wood (126) and Serjeant (124).
•
Peter Toohey who had missed some of the
tour matches through injury scored 122 and 97 in the fifth Test at
Kingston. Australia were unable to press for victory when the last day's
play was disrupted by the crowds.
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•
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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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5
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1
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3
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1
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-
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Other first-class matches
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6
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4
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0
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2
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-
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ϯ Minor matches
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5
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4
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0
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1
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-
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§ One-day internationals
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2
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1
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1
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0
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-
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All Matches
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18
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10
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4
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4
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-
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Return to Australia
Kingston Q
Hamilton
Hamilton Q
Sydney
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Gary
Cosier and David Ogilvie flew direct back to
Australia.
The
team arrived in Hamilton, Bermuda, late on Friday night 5 May from
Kingston. Though they had not been
looking forward much to the short tour, the Australains
said they were pleased to find how much they enjoyed this extension to the
trip. On 13 May the team left for
New York (Ian Callen went to England) and they arrived back in Sydney at
6:30 am on 15 May.
'Cricket
Archive shows that Ogilvie was
playing in the 5th match in Bermuda
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Time away from Australia
92 days
(12 February to 15 May)
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Finances
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…..
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Accounts of the tour
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……..
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Postscript
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Bob Simpson was willing to continue as
Australian skipper but the Australian Board, unappreciative as well as
unwise, decided not to make use of his services any longer. Graham Yallop
took over as captain for the Ashes series of 1978-79; he was so overawed by
the task against shrewd opposing skipper Mike Brearley
that he lost 5-1.
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