English cricket team in the West Indies in 1997–98

The English cricket team toured the West Indies from 16 January to 8 April 1998 as part of the 1997–98 West Indies cricket season. The tour included six Tests and five One Day Internationals, with West Indies winning the Test series 3–1 and the ODI series 4–1. Originally five Tests were scheduled; however, the opening Test at Sabina Park was called off after 62 deliveries due to an unsafe pitch,^[1] and a sixth Test in Trinidad was hurriedly scheduled to take its place.^[2] This is the most recent six-match Test series in international cricket.

English cricket team in the West Indies in 1997–98
	England	West Indies
Dates	16 January – 8 April 1998
Captains	Mike Atherton	Brian Lara
Test series
Result	West Indies won the 6-match series 3–1
Most runs	Alec Stewart (452)	Brian Lara (417)
Most wickets	Angus Fraser (27)	Curtly Ambrose (30)
Player of the series	Curtly Ambrose
One Day International series
Results	West Indies won the 5-match series 4–1
Most runs	Nick Knight (295)	Brian Lara (299)
Most wickets	Adam Hollioake (4)	Phil Simmons (9)
Player of the series	Curtly Ambrose

Squads

Test Squads		ODI Squads
England	West Indies	England	West Indies
Mike Atherton (c)	Brian Lara (c)	Adam Hollioake (c)	Brian Lara (c)
Nasser Hussain (vc)	David Williams (wk)	Alec Stewart (wk)	Ridley Jacobs (wk)
Jack Russell (wk)	Junior Murray (wk)	Jack Russell (wk)	Junior Murray (wk)
Mark Butcher	Jimmy Adams	Mike Atherton	Curtly Ambrose
Andy Caddick	Curtly Ambrose	Dougie Brown	Keith Arthurton
Ashley Cowan	Kenny Benjamin	Robert Croft	Shivnarine Chanderpaul
John Crawley	Ian Bishop	Mark Ealham	Mervyn Dillon
Robert Croft	Sherwin Campbell	Matthew Fleming	Carl Hooper
Angus Fraser	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	Angus Fraser (added)	Clayton Lambert
Dean Headley	Mervyn Dillon	Ashley Giles (withdrawn)	Rawl Lewis
Adam Hollioake	Roland Holder	Dean Headley	Nixon McLean
Mark Ramprakash	Carl Hooper	Ben Hollioake	Franklyn Rose
Chris Silverwood	Nixon McLean	Graeme Hick	Phil Simmons
Alec Stewart	Clayton Lambert	Nick Knight	Carl Tuckett
Graham Thorpe	Dinanath Ramnarine	Mark Ramprakash	Philo Wallace
Phil Tufnell	Franklyn Rose	Graham Thorpe	Courtney Walsh
	Philo Wallace		Stuart Williams
	Courtney Walsh
	Stuart Williams

Test series – The Wisden Trophy

1st Test

29 January 1998 (5-day match) Scorecard

England	v	West Indies
17/3 (10.1 overs) AJ Stewart 9* (26) CA Walsh 2/10 (5.1 overs)

Match drawn (abandoned) Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) and S Venkataraghavan (IND) Player of the match: No award

• England won the toss and elected to bat.
• The match was abandoned on the first morning due to an unfit pitch.
• An additional Test was scheduled for 5–9 February at Port of Spain.
• NAM McLean (WI) made his Test debut.

2nd Test

5–9 February 1998 (5-day match) Scorecard

England	v	West Indies
214 (109 overs) N Hussain 61* (202) CEL Ambrose 3/23 (26 overs)		191 (73.1 overs) BC Lara 55 (100) ARC Fraser 8/53 (16.1 overs)
258 (94.5 overs) AJ Stewart 73 (154) CEL Ambrose 5/52 (19.5 overs)		282/7 (98.2 overs) CL Hooper 94* (203) ARC Fraser 3/57 (27 overs)

West Indies won by 3 wickets Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) and S Venkataraghavan (IND) Player of the match: CL Hooper (WI)

• England won the toss and elected to bat.

3rd Test

13–17 February 1998 (5-day match) Scorecard

West Indies	v	England
159 (67.4 overs) BC Lara 42 (53) ARC Fraser 5/40 (20.4 overs)		145 (71.4 overs) AJ Stewart 44 (112) CEL Ambrose 5/25 (15.4 overs)
210 (85.3 overs) JC Adams 53 (161) ARC Fraser 4/40 (25.3 overs)		225/7 (108 overs) AJ Stewart 83 (245) CEL Ambrose 3/62 (33 overs)

England won by 3 wickets Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Umpires: DB Hair (AUS) and EA Nicholls (WI) Player of the match: ARC Fraser (ENG)

• England won the toss and elected to field.

4th Test

27 February–2 March 1998 (5-day match) Scorecard

West Indies	v	England
352 (128.1 overs) S Chanderpaul 118 (263) RDB Croft 3/89 (36.1 overs)		170 (87.1 overs) MR Ramprakash 64* (179) D Ramnarine 3/26 (17 overs)
197 (72 overs) IR Bishop 44* (94) DW Headley 3/37 (13 overs)		137 (62.1 overs) MR Ramprakash 34 (110) CEL Ambrose 4/38 (14.1 overs)

West Indies won by 242 runs Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) and DB Hair (AUS) Player of the match: S Chanderpaul (WI)

• West Indies won the toss and elected to bat.
• The match was scheduled for five days but completed in four.
• D Ramnarine (WI) made his Test debut.

5th Test

12–16 March 1998 (5-day match) Scorecard

England	v	West Indies
403 (153.5 overs) MR Ramprakash 154 (388) CL Hooper 5/80 (37.5 overs)		262 (107.3 overs) CB Lambert 55 (197) DW Headley 3/64 (17.3 overs)
233/3d (71 overs) MA Atherton 64 (157) IR Bishop 2/51 (14 overs)		112/2 (37.3 overs) PA Wallace 61 (101) AR Caddick 1/19 (6 overs)

Match drawn Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados Umpires: CJ Mitchley (SA) and EA Nicholls (WI) Player of the match: MR Ramprakash (ENG)

• West Indies won the toss and elected to field.

6th Test

20–24 March 1998 (5-day match) Scorecard

England	v	West Indies
127 (70.5 overs) N Hussain 37 (124) D Ramnarine 4/29 (17 overs)		500/7d (131 overs) CL Hooper 108* (150) AR Caddick 3/111 (26 overs)
321 (147.2 overs) N Hussain 106 (318) CA Walsh 2/70 (46 overs)

West Indies won by an innings and 52 runs Antigua Recreation Ground, St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) and CJ Mitchley (SA) Player of the match: D Ramnarine (WI)

• West Indies won the toss and elected to field.

ODI series summary

West Indies won the Cable and Wireless Trophy 4–1.

1st ODI

29 March 1998 Scorecard

England  293/5 (50 overs)	v	West Indies 277 (46.5 overs)
NV Knight 122 (130) PV Simmons 2/58 (8 overs)		BC Lara 110 (106) MA Ealham 2/37 (7.5 overs)

England won by 16 runs Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados Umpires: BEW Morgan and EA Nicholls Player of the match: NV Knight (ENG)

• West Indies won the toss and elected to field.

2nd ODI

1 April 1998 Scorecard

England  266 (50 overs)	v	West Indies 267/9 (49.5 overs)
NV Knight 90 (107) PV Simmons 3/46 (8 overs)		SC Williams 68 (88) MV Fleming 3/41 (9 overs)

West Indies won by 1 wicket Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados Umpires: BEW Morgan and EA Nicholls Player of the match: NV Knight (ENG)

• West Indies won the toss and elected to field.

3rd ODI

4 April 1998 Scorecard

England  209/8 (50 overs)	v	West Indies 213/5 (48.1 overs)
GA Hick 45 (85) KLT Arthurton 2/31 (8 overs)		CL Hooper 50 (73) RDB Croft 1/18 (10 overs)

West Indies won by 5 wickets Arnos Vale Stadium, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Umpires: SA Bucknor and BR Doctrove Player of the match: CL Hooper (WI)

• England won the toss and elected to bat.

4th ODI

5 April 1998 Scorecard

England  149 (48.5 overs)	v	West Indies 150/6 (37.4 overs)
AJ Hollioake 23 (39) M Dillon 3/32 (10 overs)		CB Lambert 52 (62) RDB Croft 2/41 (9 overs)

West Indies won by 4 wickets Arnos Vale Stadium, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Umpires: SA Bucknor and BR Doctrove Player of the match: BC Lara (WI)

• England won the toss and elected to bat.

5th ODI

8 April 1998 Scorecard

West Indies  302/5 (50 overs)	v	England 245 (45.5 overs)
CB Lambert 119 (124) BC Hollioake 2/43 (10 overs)		NV Knight 65 (67) CL Hooper 2/6 (2 overs)

West Indies won by 57 runs Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Umpires: Z Maccum and EA Nicholls Player of the match: CB Lambert (WI)

• West Indies won the toss and elected to bat.
• NC McGarrell and CM Tuckett (both WI) made their ODI debuts.

References

1. "A Sabina Park farce". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
2. "England to play back-to-back Tests". BBC News. 30 January 1998. Retrieved 4 January 2022.

External sources

CricketArchive

• Playfair Cricket Annual
• Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual)