1998-99 West Indian cricket season

This article describes the history of West Indies cricket from 1991 to 2000.

Outstanding players during this period were Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Jimmy Adams.

[edit] Domestic cricket 1990-91 to 2000

[edit] Shell Shield winners

• 1990-91 Barbados
• 1991-92 Jamaica
• 1992-93 Guyana
• 1993-94 Leeward Islands
• 1994-95 Barbados
• 1995-96 Leeward Islands
• 1996-97 Barbados
• 1997-98 Leeward Islands shared with Guyana
• 1998-99 Barbados
• 1999-2000 Jamaica

[edit] International tours 1990-91 to 2000

[edit] Australia 1990-91

• [ 1st Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn
• [ 2nd Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – West Indies won by 10 wickets
• [ 3rd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn
• [ 4th Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by 343 runs
• [ 5th Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – Australia won by 157 runs

[edit] South Africa 1991-92

• [ 1st Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by 52 runs

For information about this tour, see : South African cricket team in West Indies in 1991-92

[edit] Pakistan 1992-93

• [ 1st Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 204 runs
• [ 2nd Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by 10 wickets
• [ 3rd Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – match drawn

[edit] England 1993-94

• [ 1st Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – West Indies won by 8 wickets
• [ 2nd Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – West Indies won by an innings and 44 runs
• [ 3rd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 147 runs
• [ 4th Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – England won by 208 runs
• [ 5th Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – match drawn

For information about this tour, see : English cricket team in West Indies in 1993-94

[edit] Australia 1994-95

The West Indians went into the series having not lost a series in fifteen years.

• [ 1st Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – Australia won by 10 wickets. The tourists' underdog status was amplified by pre-Test injuries to fast bowlers Craig McDermott and Damien Fleming. "Still, we somehow managed to catch them on the hop", wrote Paul Reiffel.^[1] Victory was secured within three days.

• [ 2nd Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – match drawn.

• [ 3rd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 9 wickets. Having endured substantial criticism from an enraged fourth estate for their lustreless display in the First Test, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, the Caribbean's last great fast-bowling pair, lifted the ante and biffed the Australians with a barrage of short-pitched bowling. It was, wrote Reiffel, "one of the greenest wickets I ever saw".^[2] Steve Waugh knocked up a courageous 63 in the first innings, priming him for his legendary effort in Jamaica.^[3]

• [ 4th Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – Australia won by an innings and 53 runs. The final Test arrived with the scoreline one-all, and the crowd came out in force. "They were noisy, knew their cricket, and could be intimidating if you gave them room", Reiffel recalled. "[T]he bowl was resounding in anticipation [...]."^[4] The Australian strategy was to occupy the crease and compile as large a total as possible, fearing the fourth-innings pitch. Steve Waugh, coming in at 73 for three, joined his brother Mark, "batted magnificently and built a fortress strong enough to keep West Indies at bay. Mark nonchalantly scored a beautiful century before getting out, but by then he had helped Steve build a solid platform."^[5] Inspired by Waugh's intrepid double century and the West Indies' depleted psychological funds, Reiffel picked up three quick wickets on the second-last evening. By the reckoning of Reiffel, it was this match — and, more specifically, Waugh's century, "one of the greatest feats of batting I ever witnessed"^[6] — which signified the transition of cricketing supremacy from the West Indies to Australia. It also secured the Frank Worrell Trophy.

[edit] New Zealand 1995-96

• [ 1st Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by 10 wickets
• [ 2nd Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – match drawn

[edit] Sri Lanka 1995-97

[edit] India 1996-97

• [ 1st Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn
• [ 2nd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – match drawn
• [ 3rd Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by 38 runs
• [ 4th Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – match drawn
• [ 5th Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn

[edit] Sri Lanka 1996-97

• [ 1st Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – West Indies won by 6 wickets
• [ 2nd Test] at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown – match drawn

[edit] England 1997-98

• [ 1st Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – match drawn
• [ 2nd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 3 wickets
• [ 3rd Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – England won by 3 wickets
• [ 4th Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – West Indies won by 242 runs
• [ 5th Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn
• [ 6th Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – West Indies won by an innings and 52 runs

For information about this tour, see : English cricket team in West Indies in 1997-98

[edit] Australia 1998-99

• [ 1st Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – Australia won by 312 runs
• [ 2nd Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – Australia won by 10 wickets
• [ 3rd Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies won by 1 wicket
• [ 4th Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – Australia won by 176 runs

[edit] Zimbabwe 1999-2000

• [ 1st Test] at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad – West Indies won by 35 runs
• [ 2nd Test] at Sabina Park, Kingston – West Indies won by 10 wickets

[edit] Pakistan 1999-2000

• [ 1st Test] at Bourda, Georgetown – match drawn
• [ 2nd Test] at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados – match drawn
• [ 3rd Test] at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's – West Indies won by 1 wicket

[edit] References

• Reiffel, Paul: We'll take it from here: How Steve Waugh's Jamaica 200 marked the handing over of power from West Indies to Australia (Cricinfo, 2 June 2008 <http://content-rsa.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/352855.html>).

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Reiffel: We'll take it from here.
2. ^ Reiffel: We'll take it from here.
3. ^ Reiffel: We'll take it from here.
4. ^ Reiffel: We'll take it from here.
5. ^ Reiffel: We'll take it from here.
6. ^ Reiffel: We'll take it from here.

[edit] External sources

• CricketArchive – itinerary of events

[edit] Further reading

• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack