Test Cricket Tours - West Indies to Australia 1996-97

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Tour of Australia 1996-97 Captain: Courtney Walsh

42nd official tour

th official Test-playing tour of Australia by West Indies

(November 1996 -

February 1997)

Australia retained the Frank Worrell Trophy which they had wrested from West Indies eighteen months before. Since then West Indies cricket had undergone an upheaval, changing its captain, coach and manager. If the new team officials had helped overcome the factionalism of twelve months ago, a general lack of intensity and commitment of which the captain and manager complained had now set in. Australia held the trophy winning at Adelaide by an innings and 183 runs, West Indies heaviest Test defeat for nearly forty years. West Indies also lost the one-day series to Pakistan. Yet they won two Test matches and had a run of eight successive victories in mid-tour before losing the vital Test match at Adelaide.

Brian Lara, beset by controversies, took six months off in preparation for the tour.

The fast bowlers - Ambrose aged 33, Walsh 34, Bishop 29 and Benjamin, also 29 - were all affected by injuries and the two new bowlers Nixon McLean and Patterson Thompson were of a different class and unable to step up in their places.

Other West Indies tours

Previous tour

England 1995

Next tour

Pakistan 1997-98

Next Australia tour

2000-01

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Openers Adrian Griffith, Sherwin Campbell, Robert Samuels

Batsmen: Carl Hooper, Brian Lara, Jimmy Adams, Shiv Chanderpaul, Roland Holder.

Wicket-keepers: Junior Murray, Courtney Browne

Spin bowlers none

Fast bowlers: Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Nixon McLean, Kenny Benjamin, Ian Bishop, Patterson Thompson

J C Adams	RHB SLA
C E L Ambrose	RF
K C G Benjamin	RFM
I R Bishop	RF
C O Browne	WK
S L Campbell	RHB opener
S Chanderpaul	LHB
A F G Griffith	RHB opener
R I C Holder	RHB
C L Hooper	RHB OB
B C Lara	LHB
N A M McLean	RFM
J R Murray	WK
R G Samuels	LHB opener
P I C Thompson	RFM
C A Walsh	RF captain

Representation of teams:

B - Barbados

G - Guyana

J - Jamaica

L - Leeward Islands

T - Trinidad & Tobago

W - Windward Islands

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(December 1996) : 25 yrs 11 months

ODI Member of the Carlton & United one-day series squad

Test Appearances made before the tour

Walsh 82, Ambrose 61, Hooper 52, Lara 33, Bishop 26, Murray 24, Adams 24, Simmons 24, K Benjamin 21, Campbell 11, Chanderpaul 11, Browne 5, R Samuels 2, Griffith 0

Team Officials

Clive Lloyd	Manager
Malcolm Marshall	Coach
Dennis Waight	Physiotherapist

Selectors

David Holford (chairman), Easton McMorris, Andy Roberts

Selection

Unavailable: Richie Richardson (retired)

Tour Party Announced : .

Kenneth Benjamin was reinstated by the selectors

Not selected : Phil Simmons, Roger Harper.

Travel

Manager Clive Lloyd arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, from London on 21 October 1996. The West Indian team assembled for a five-day training camp including three limited-over practice matches on 25, 26, 27 October 1996. The West Indies team left for London on Monday 28 October earlier than originally planned.

Ambrose and fellow Antiguan pacer Kenneth Benjamin needed to return to Antigua and left there for London on 29 October to join the team, which arrived in Perth Saturday 2 November 1996.

On-tour selection panel

Lloyd(manager), Marshall (coach), Walsh (captain), Lara.

Reinforcements

Phil Simmons flying from London flew into Sydney on 17 January and Cameron Cuffy arrived from St Vincent on 19 January as replacements for Nixon McLean (groin muscle) and Kenny Benjamin (strained muscle in right side) who both went home early before the fourth Test. The management had unsuccessfully sought Simmons, 33, as a 17th player earlier in the tour.

Several members of the team and all the fast bowlers suffered injuries which physio Dennis Waight blamed on “too much cricket, too much travelling, not enough rest."

Fixtures/Results

	Kingston 25 Oct	Hooper’s XI v Lara’s XI
	Kingston 26 Oct	practice match
	Kingston 28 Oct	practice match
a	† Lilac Hill	Chairman's XI	Lost 3 w
b	† Perth	Western Australia	Lost 9 w
c	† Perth	Western Australia	Won 1 w
d	Perth	Western Australia	Won 9 w
e	† Alice Springs	Northern Territory	Won 48 r
f	Hobart	Australian XI	Lost 10 w
g	BRISBANE	AUSTRALIA First Test	LOST 123 r
h	SYDNEY	AUSTRALIA Second Test	LOST 124 r
i	§ Melbourne	Australia (1st ODI)	Lost 5 w
j	§ Sydney	Australia (2nd ODI)	Lost 8 w
k	† Canberra	Prime Minister’s XI (50 over)	Lost 58 r
l	† Melbourne	Australia A (50 over)	Lost 6 w
m	§ Adelaide	Pakistan (3rd ODI)	Won 7 w
n	Wangratta	Victoria (4-day)	Won 6 w
o	MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA Third Test	WON 6 w
p	§ Brisbane	Pakistan (4th ODI)	Won 6 w
q	§ Brisbane	Australia (5th ODI)	Won 7 w
r	† Toowoomba	Australian Country XI (50 over)	Won 36 r
s	§ Perth	Pakistan (6th ODI)	Won 5 w
t	§ Perth	Australia (7th ODI)	Won 4 w
u	§ Sydney	Pakistan (8th ODI)	Lost 8 w
v	§ Sydney	Pakistan (1st ODI final)	Lost 4 w
w	§ Melbourne	Pakistan (2nd ODI final)	Lost 62 r
x	ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA Fourth Test	LOST inns 183 r
y	PERTH	AUSTRALIA Fifth Test	WON 10 w

§ ODI:

† not first-class

.

Test appearances on tour

5 - Adams, Bishop, Campbell, Chanderpaul, Hooper, Lara, Walsh

4 - Ambrose, Samuels

3 - K Benjamin, Browne

2 - Murray

1 - Cuffy, Griffith, Simmons, Thompson

0 - Holder, McLean.

Highlights

•

• Ambrose took nine for 72 in the third Test at Melbourne to help win the match.

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Tour Summary

	P	W	L	D	Aban
Test Matches	5	2	3	0	-
Other first-class matches	3	2	1	0	-
Minor matches	7	3	4	0	-
One-day internationals	10	5	5	0	-
All Matches	25	12	13	0	-

Return to West Indies

approx 6 February 1997.