West Indian cricket team in England in 1988

Infobox cricket series
series= West Indian cricket team
in England in 1988
date= 7 May 1988 – 8 August 1988
place= England
result= West Indies won the 5-Test series 4–0
England won the 3-ODI series 3–0
team1= Cr|England
team2= Cr|West Indies
captain1= MW Gatting
JE Emburey
CS Cowdrey
GA Gooch
captain2= IVA Richards
runs1= GA Gooch (459)
AJ Lamb (254)
DI Gower (211)
runs2= AL Logie (364)
PJL Dujon (305)
CG Greenidge (282)
wickets1= GR Dilley (15)
DR Pringle (11)
wickets2= MD Marshall (35)
CEL Ambrose (22)

The West Indian cricket team played 16 first-class cricket matches in England in 1988, under the captaincy of Viv Richards. The West Indies enjoyed tremendous success during the tour, while England endured a "disastrous summer" of continuous change. [cite web
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/story/236950.html
title = No admission - England NOT in India, 1988–89
accessdate = 2007-02-06
author = Nick Hoult
publisher = Cricinfo]

England easily won the initial three-match One Day International (ODI) series, retaining the Texaco Trophy and raising expectations for a successful summer in the five-match Test series to follow. However, the West Indies comfortably retained the Wisden Trophy by winning the Test series 4–0.

Perhaps as a reference to the Year of the Four Emperors in AD 69, this tour has become known in cricketing circles as the "summer of four captains" as England used four different captains in the five Test matches. [cite web
url = http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/245280.html
title = Digging their heels in
accessdate = 2007-02-05
author = Andrew Miller
coauthors = Martin Williamson
publisher = Cricinfo
date= 2006-04-25] [cite web
url = http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1991/SL_IN_ENG/SL_ENG_T_22-27AUG1991_MR
title = Russell and Hussain worthy of returns
author = Alan Lee
accessdate = 2007-02-05
publisher = Cricinfo
date= 1995-03-24]

West Indian cricket team

By the summer of 1988, the West Indies had experienced nearly ten years as the best Test team in world cricket, including a streak of winning every Test series they played from 1980 to 1985–86. However, the West Indies side that had enjoyed this considerable recent success was beginning to show signs of ageing. The experienced batsmen Viv Richards (the captain), Gordon Greenidge, Jeff Dujon, and Desmond Haynes were all coming to the end of their careers, and bowlers Michael Holding and Joel Garner had recently retired. As a result, the squad arrived with an unusually inexperienced group of pace bowlers. Supporting Malcolm Marshall, a veteran of 53 Tests, were relative newcomers Courtney Walsh (20 Tests), Patrick Patterson (11), Winston Benjamin (4), Curtly Ambrose (3) and Ian Bishop (0). [Statistics for the start of 1988 season taken from Playfair Cricket Annual 1988, ed. Bill Frindall, MacDonald Queen Anne Press 1988 p.199, updated with stats from Cricinfo for Pakistan's tour to West Indies in 1987–88.]

The West Indies' most recent series had been a hard-fought 1–1 draw at home against Pakistan, [cite web
url = http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1987-88/PAK_IN_WI/
title = Tour directory of Pakistan in West Indies, 1987–88
accessdate = 2007-02-05
publisher = Cricinfo] but their previous two Test series against England had both resulted in 5–0 victories. The first of these, in England in 1984, [cite web
url = http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1984/WI_IN_ENG/
title = Tour directory, West Indies in England, 1984
accessdate = 2007-02-15
publisher = Cricinfo] was the first whitewash England had suffered since the 1920–21 season when England toured Australia, [cite web
url = http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1920S/1920-21/ENG_IN_AUS/
title = England in Australia : Dec 1920/Mar 1921 (5 TESTS)
accessdate = 2007-02-15
publisher = Cricinfo] while the second occurred in the Caribbean in 1985–86. These two one-sided victories by the West Indies became known as "blackwashes". [cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/cricket/38063.stm
title = Whitewashed - West Indies on the receiving end (Pt 2)
accessdate = 2007-02-15
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 1997-12-09]

English cricket team

By contrast, the English team had suffered a run of bad performances spanning several years, winning only seven of their previous 52 Tests. The England side had most recently toured Australia, drawing the Bicentennial Test and losing the only One Day International played, and New Zealand, drawing all three Test matches and sharing the ODIs 2-2. [cite web
url = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154306.html
title = England in New Zealand and Australia, 1987–88
accessdate = 2008-05-04
publisher = Cricinfo] Before this, they had endured a "hostile" and highly controversial tour of Pakistan, [cite web
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/141453.html
title = Mike Gatting's annus horribilis
accessdate = 2007-01-16
author = Martin Williamson
publisher = Cricinfo
date = 6 November 2004] during which an argument between captain Mike Gatting and umpire Shakoor Rana had led to a diplomatic incident.cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2000/england_on_tour/1211155.stm
title = Gatting blames umpires for Kandy chaos
accessdate = 2007-02-14
publisher = BBC Sport] The three match series was lost 1-0, but the "teasing, taunting ... bemusing" [cite web
url = http://content-pak.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/219314.html
title = 'I'm proud that I revived an art'
author = Osman Samiuddin
accessdate = 2007-02-05
publisher = Cricinfo] performance of leg-spinner Abdul Qadir, who took 30 wickets in three Tests, was unlikely to be repeated, given that the West Indies' only specialist spinner was Roger Harper, an off-break bowler.

Despite having lost 5–0 to the West Indies in each of the two most recent series, England had grounds for optimism leading up to the Test series: the West Indian team was ageing and lacked a leg-spinner; and the England team had home advantage. England's morale was also surging following good performances in the shorter form of the game: the team had reached the World Cup Final the previous year, losing to Australia, and were expected to do well in One Day International cricket, even against the West Indies.

England's "summer of four captains"

As the series unfolded, England were dominated by the West Indians in "the crazy summer of 1988". [cite web
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/story/236964.html
title = Failing to follow in the footsteps
accessdate = 2007-02-06
publisher = Cricinfo
author = Andrew Miller and Martin Williamson] "Wisden" was moved to comment "The morale and reputation of English cricket has seldom been as severely bruised as it was during the 1988 Cornhill Insurance Test series against West Indies".cite web
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153108.html
title = The West Indians in England, 1988
year = 1989
accessdate = 2007-02-06
publisher = Wisden Cricketer's Almanack - online archive
author = Tony Cozier]

The notability of there being four captains in just five Test matches can better be understood with context. The captain of a cricket team performs a vital role. Unlike many other team sports, the captain makes crucial decisions regarding on-field tactics, and may also have an important say in team selection. Traditionally, captains of international teams are not changed frequently - for example, between 1977 and 1988 (comprising 104 Test matches), only seven different men captained England, yet there were four captains in just a few weeks in the summer of 1988.

The West Indies played 11 first-class matches, in addition to the five Tests, [cite web
url = http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988/WI_IN_ENG/
title = West Indies 1988 tour of England
accessdate = 2007-01-17
publisher = Cricinfo] defeating Somerset in May and Kent in June. The other nine first-class matches, and the First Test, were all drawn:
Sussex,
Gloucestershire,
Worcestershire,
Lancashire,
Northamptonshire,
Leicestershire,
Glamorgan,
Nottinghamshire,and Essex. During the match against Gloucestershire at Bristol, immediately after the ODI series, Phil Simmons suffered a horrific injury, receiving a ball to the head from bowler David Lawrence. Not wearing a helmet, the blow caused his heart to stop and he had to be taken to hospital where he underwent emergency brain surgery. He missed the rest of the tour, but made a full recovery in time for the 1991 West Indies tour of England. [cite web
url = http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/247329.html
title = More dangerous games
accessdate = 2007-02-15
author = Martin Williamson and Andrew Miller
publisher = Cricinfo
date = 2006-09-06]

In addition to the One Day Internationals, there were four other non first-class fixtures. West Indies beat Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk's XI in a 40-over match, Hampshire in a 50-over match and a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities team over three days; they also drew with Minor Counties in a two-day match.

Test matches in detail

First Test

Test match
date = 2–7 June
team1 = cr-rt|England
team2 = cr|West Indies

score-team1-inns1 = 245 (101 overs)
runs-team1-inns1 = GA Gooch 73 (131)
BC Broad 54 (167)
wickets-team1-inns1 = MD Marshall 6/69 (30 overs)

score-team2-inns1 = 448/9 dec (129.1 overs)
runs-team2-inns1 = CL Hooper 84 (147)
IVA Richards 80 (98)
wickets-team2-inns1 = PW Jarvis 2/63 (18.1 overs)

score-team1-inns2 = 301/3 (108 overs)
runs-team1-inns2 = GA Gooch 146 (303)
DI Gower 88* (164)
wickets-team1-inns2 = MD Marshall 1/23 (13 overs)

score-team2-inns2 =
runs-team2-inns2 =
wickets-team2-inns2 =

result = Match drawn
venue = Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England
umpires = HD Bird (Eng) and J Birkenshaw (Eng)
motm = flagicon|West Indies MD Marshall

report = [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988/WI_IN_ENG/WI_ENG_T1_02-07JUN1988.html Scorecard]
rain = 5 June was a rest day

Mike Gatting was the incumbent England captain for the First Test, at Trent Bridge. The result was a draw, with Graham Gooch and David Gower helping England to save the game from a position of weakness, after conceding a sizeable first-innings lead to the West Indies.

England won the toss and declined from 125-0 to 245 all out, the last five wickets tumbling for just 22 runs. Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose took all ten wickets between them. The West Indies racked up 448-9 despite no batsman reaching a century. England had a chance to get back into the match, but from 334-7, the unheralded batting of Marshall (72) and Ambrose (43*) took the tourists into a position of dominance.

The West Indian surge for victory was frustrated by the weather, which periodically interrupted the match throughout, and by an obdurate partnership of 161 between Gooch (146) and Gower (88*).

Before the Second Test, Gatting was sacked for an alleged off-field indiscretion with a barmaid. The tabloid media made allegations of "shenanigans" in his room; he "admitted taking ... [her] into his room but denied anything untoward had happened".cite web
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/141453.html
title = Mike Gatting's annus horribilis
accessdate = 2007-01-16
publisher = Cricinfo
author = Martin Williamson
date = 6 November 2004] During the previous winter, Gatting had been involved in a notorious on-field altercation with umpire Shakoor Rana in Pakistan that snowballed into a diplomatic disaster with the third day of the second test in Faisalabad being abandoned and accusations of cheating. [cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/1271084.stm
title = Shakoor's unforgettable legacy
accessdate = 2007-01-16
publisher = BBC Sport
author = Pat Murphy
publishdate = 2001-04-11] His recently published autobiography "Leading From The Front" "...was banned in all shops on county grounds. Gatting was good enough to lead Middlesex and England, but spectators couldn't buy his book at Lord's". The new allegations may simply have been the last straw.

This proved to be Gatting's last match as captain. He had captained England in 23 Test matches since taking charge against India in 1986, but won only two. [cite web
url = http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/13340.html
title = Mike Gatting profile
accessdate = 2007-01-16
publisher = Cricinfo]

Second Test

Test match
date = 16–21 June
team1 = cr-rt|West Indies
team2 = cr|England

score-team1-inns1 = 209 (67.5 overs)
runs-team1-inns1 = AL Logie 81 (189)
PJL Dujon 53 (124)
wickets-team1-inns1 = GR Dilley 5/55 (23 overs)

score-team2-inns1 = 165 (59 overs)
runs-team2-inns1 = DI Gower 46 (61)
GA Gooch 44 (106)
wickets-team2-inns1 = MD Marshall 6/32 (18 overs)

score-team1-inns2 = 397 (108 overs)
runs-team1-inns2 = CG Greenidge 103 (192)
AL Logie 95* (124)
wickets-team1-inns2 = GR Dilley 4/73 (27 overs)

score-team2-inns2 = 307 (86.5 overs)
runs-team2-inns2 = AJ Lamb 113 (212)
JE Emburey 30 (32)
wickets-team2-inns2 = MD Marshall 4/60 (25 overs)

result = flagicon|West Indies West Indies won by 134 runs
venue = Lord's, London, England
umpires = KE Palmer (Eng) and DR Shepherd (Eng)
motm = flagicon|West Indies AL Logie

report = [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988/WI_IN_ENG/WI_ENG_T2_16-21JUN1988.html Scorecard]
rain = 19 June was a rest day

Gatting was replaced as England captain by his Middlesex colleague John Emburey. Gatting was also dropped from the team, replaced by Yorkshire's Martyn Moxon. Phil DeFreitas was also replaced, by Gladstone Small, but the tourists were unchanged.

England began the Second Test with an inspired fiery burst of fast bowling by Graham Dilley, who took four of the first five wickets to fall to reduce the West Indies to 54-5. At lunch on the first day, Dilley had figures of 4-35, and "he would have taken five had Pringle at first slip caught Logie when he was 10". [cite web
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152007.html
title = Second Cornhill Test ENGLAND v WEST INDIES 1988
year = 1989
accessdate = 2007-02-07
publisher = Wisden Cricketer's Almanack - online archive]

The missed chance was to prove costly. The pattern established in the first Test recurred, as England let the West Indies recover, with Gus Logie and Jeff Dujon scoring 81 and 53 as the team passed 200.

In England's first innings, the West Indian pace attack found little resistance after they had dismissed Gooch and Gower. Marshall was again to the fore, with six wickets, and West Indies secured a precious first-innings lead of 44 runs.

The touring batsmen then enjoyed the Lord's conditions, reaching 397 in their second innings, with sizable contributions from Greenidge (103), Richards (72), Dujon (52) and Logie again, this time with an unbeaten 95, a match performance that secured him the award of Man of the match.

England never seriously threatened to reach the victory target of 442 runs, which would have comfortably broken the world record for a fourth-innings run chase. Allan Lamb added to his reputation for mastering fast bowling with a defiant 113, but it was sizable contributions from the tail and extras that took England to a respectable total of 307 - but a bad defeat by 134 runs.

Third Test

Test match
date = 30 June – 5 July
team1 = cr-rt|England
team2 = cr|West Indies

score-team1-inns1 = 135 (60.2 overs)
runs-team1-inns1 = AJ Lamb 33 (82)
GA Gooch 27 (81)
wickets-team1-inns1 = CA Walsh 4/46 (18.2 overs)

score-team2-inns1 = 384/7 dec (140.1 overs)
runs-team2-inns1 = RA Harper 74 (244)
PJL Dujon 67 (159)
wickets-team2-inns1 = GR Dilley 4/99 (28.1 overs)

score-team1-inns2 = 93 (42.4 overs)
runs-team1-inns2 = DI Gower 34 (60)
MD Moxon 15 (59)
wickets-team1-inns2 = MD Marshall 7/22 (15.4 overs)

score-team2-inns2 =
runs-team2-inns2 =
wickets-team2-inns2 =

result = flagicon|West Indies West Indies won by an innings and 156 runs
venue = Old Trafford, Manchester, England
umpires = DJ Constant (Eng) and NT Plews (Eng)
motm = flagicon|West Indies MD Marshall

report = [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988/WI_IN_ENG/WI_ENG_T3_30JUN-05JUL1988.html Scorecard]
rain = 3 July was a rest day

The third Test changed the pattern of the summer. England were "unable to cope for any length of time with the West Indian fast bowlers"cite web
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152008.html
title = Third Cornhill Test ENGLAND v WEST INDIES 1988
accessdate = 2007-02-06
publisher = Wisden Cricketer's Almanack - online archive
author = Graham Otway] and never gave even a sign of competing in a one-sided affair.

The England team had a different look, with four changes to the team. Essex 36 year-old off-spinner John Childs made his debut, the oldest England debutant for 40 years. [Dick Howorth was 37 when he was capped in 1947. [http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/stats/index.html?agemin1=36;ageval1=age;class=1;debut_or_last=1;filter=advanced;orderby=runs;spanmax2=15+Mar+1989;spanmin2=01+Aug+1947;spanval2=span;team=1;template=results;type=batting;view=match Crincinfo's Statsguru] confirms that no other England player made a debut aged 36 or older in this period.] Childs joined the recalled Gatting and DeFreitas, and newcomer David Capel. Small and Paul Jarvis were both left out due to injury, and Derek Pringle was dropped, but the most media attention focused on Chris Broad, who was also dropped, "ostensibly for his consistent failure to make runs in home Tests, but there was always a suspicion that he was being disciplined for the incident at Lord's when he was spotted by a television camera mouthing his disappointment at an lbw decision".

For West Indies, Desmond Haynes was unfit, ending a run of 72 consecutive caps. He was replaced by the spinner Roger Harper, and Patrick Patterson was replaced by Winston Benjamin.

No batsman scored more than 33 in England's first innings, as the four quick bowlers shared cheap wickets. In reply, West Indies piled up 384-7, again without a century, in a team effort down to and including man-of-the-match Marshall, who scored 43* batting at number eight.

Needing 249 to make West Indies bat again, England were dismissed for just 93, Marshall finishing with magnificent figures of 15.4-5-22-7, the best of his Test career.cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sport/2000/england_v_west_indies/797357.stm| title = England v West Indies - The 1988 series
accessdate = 2007-02-23
publisher = BBC Sport] Extras were the third highest scorer, with 12.

With such a huge margin of victory and such a poor performance, England (and Emburey) were strongly criticised. After being bowled out for just 93 runs, and a personally very unsuccessful match (no wickets as a bowler, and scoring just 1 and 8 runs as a batsman), Emburey was sacked as England captain and dropped from the team.

Fourth Test

Test match
date = 21–26 July
team1 = cr-rt|England
team2 = cr|West Indies

score-team1-inns1 = 201 (69.1 overs)
runs-team1-inns1 = AJ Lamb 64 (91) (retired hurt)
RA Smith 38 (91)
wickets-team1-inns1 = CEL Ambrose 4/58 (25.1 overs)

score-team2-inns1 = 275 (81.2 overs)
runs-team2-inns1 = RA Harper 56 (112)
DL Haynes 54 (110)
wickets-team2-inns1 = DR Pringle 5/95 (27 overs)

score-team1-inns2 = 138 (61.5 overs)
runs-team1-inns2 = GA Gooch 50 (100)
AJ Lamb 19 (59)
wickets-team1-inns2 = CA Walsh 3/38 (20 overs)

score-team2-inns2 = 67/0 (14.3 overs)
runs-team2-inns2 = PJL Dujon 40* (44)
DL Haynes 25* (43)
wickets-team2-inns2 = CS Cowdrey 0/13 (3.3 overs)

result = flagicon|West Indies West Indies won by 10 wickets
venue = Headingley, Leeds, England
umpires = HD Bird (Eng) and DR Shepherd (Eng)
motm = flagicon|West Indies CEL Ambrose

report = [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988/WI_IN_ENG/WI_ENG_T4_21-26JUL1988.html Scorecard]
rain = 24 July was a rest day

The England selectors surprised the cricket public with their new appointment as captain, selecting a player who many believed owed his appointment more to his father than his own ability.cite web
url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/10843.html
title = Chris Cowdrey profile
accessdate = 2007-01-16
publisher = Cricinfo] Chris Cowdrey was the son of Colin Cowdrey, an England captain in the 1960s and later given a knighthood and then life peerage for his services to the sport; [Colin Cowdrey was knighted in 1992 and in 1997 became "Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge".] Chris Cowdrey was also godson of the chairman of selectors, Peter May. Cowdrey was a successful captain of Kent in county cricket, but had played just five Tests previously, during the 1984–85 tour to India, captained by David Gower. He became only the second son to follow his father as captain of the England cricket team, after George Mann in the 1940s followed Frank Mann in the 1920s.

The England side was thoroughly shaken-up following the debacle in the Third Test at Old Trafford. The selectors tried to turn things around with seven new faces in the team, the most extensive change of an England XI during a Test series since seven players were changed for the 1921 Ashes Tests against Australia at Lord's and Headingley (when only JWHT Douglas, Ciss Parkin, Lionel Tennyson and Frank Woolley were retained, and Tennyson replaced Douglas as captain). As well as Cowdrey replacing Emburey, the selectors also dropped Paul Downton, Martyn Moxon, Mike Gatting, David Capel, Phil Defreitas and John Childs in favour of Derek Pringle, Neil Foster, Bill Athey, and Jack Richards, with Tim Curtis and Robin Smith making their Test debuts.

Apart from Pringle, who played in the First and Second Tests, none of the six new selections had played in the series so far, but the match followed the old pattern, as the England batting again failed twice against the hostile West Indies pace attack. The side fell to a relatively facile defeat against a West Indies team whose own batsmen failed to dominate; they had no need. Curtly Ambrose secured his first man-of-the-match award for taking seven wickets at a cost of 98 runs.

An all-rounder with a moderate first class record (averaging 32 with the bat and 40 with the ball), [cite web
url = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/1/1768/1768.html
title = Chris Cowdrey
accessdate = 2007-02-05
publisher = Cricket Archive] Cowdrey's debut as captain in the Fourth Test at Headingley was a disaster. He scored 0 and 5 and took no wickets, as England were crushed by 10 wickets, West Indies again winning at a canter. Worse for Cowdrey, he suffered a minor injury in a county match and was persuaded to step aside for the Fifth Test. He never played for England again.

Fifth Test

Test match
date = 4–8 August
team1 = cr-rt|England
team2 = cr|West Indies

score-team1-inns1 = 205 (90.3 overs)
runs-team1-inns1 = RA Smith 57 (162)
RJ Bailey 43 (144)
wickets-team1-inns1 = CEL Ambrose 20-6-31-3

score-team2-inns1 = 183 (59 overs)
runs-team2-inns1 = PJL Dujon 64 (111)
AL Logie 47 (79)
wickets-team2-inns1 = NA Foster 5/64 (16 overs)

score-team1-inns2 = 202 (89.1 overs)
runs-team1-inns2 = GA Gooch 84 (240)
NA Foster 34 (80)
wickets-team1-inns2 = WKM Benjamin 4/52 (22 overs)

score-team2-inns2 = 226/2 (91 overs)
runs-team2-inns2 = DL Haynes 77* (237)
CG Greenidge 77 (203)
wickets-team2-inns2 = NA Foster 1/52 (18 overs)

result = flagicon|West Indies West Indies won by 8 wickets
venue = The Oval, London, England
umpires = HD Bird (Eng) and KE Palmer (Eng)
motm = flagicon|West Indies PJL Dujon

report = [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988/WI_IN_ENG/WI_ENG_T5_04-08AUG1988.html Scorecard]
rain = 7 August was a rest day

In desperation, the England selectors turned to 35-year-old Graham Gooch, stalwart opening batsman, as their fourth captain of the series, for the Fifth Test at The Oval. England also replaced Cowdrey with DeFreitas, dropped Gower for Matthew Maynard, and replaced the injured Allan Lamb with Rob Bailey, a recall and two Test debuts respectively. [cite web|url=http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152009.html|title=Fifth Cornhill Test ENGLAND v WEST INDIES 1988|last=Field|first=David|year=1989|work=Wisden Cricketer's Almanack|publisher=John Wisden & Co|accessdate=2008-05-02] The tourists replaced the youngster Keith Arthurton with Greenidge, who had recovered from an injury.

England won the toss and the new captain received the first ball, but Gooch was soon out with the score on only 12. Some solid top-order play followed, with Curtis (30), Bailey (43) and Smith (57) all making starts but getting out when well set. From 120-3, England lost their remaining wickets for 85, but that is perhaps less surprising than the fact that off-spinner Roger Harper took three of them. A lion-hearted response by the England bowlers, led by Neil Foster (5-64), gave England a chance of a rare win, as the West Indies were dismissed for 183, giving the England team their first first-innings lead of the series, 22 runs ahead.

In England's second innings, Gooch played a lone hand. With the exception of Foster (34), promoted as nightwatchman at the end of day two, no-one else passed 15. When Gooch was last man out for 84 on the third day, England had compiled 202. The England bowlers managed to restrain the West Indian batsmen, Childs notably bowling 40 overs for just 79 runs, but, with more than 2 days left to play, there was little pressure on the West Indies, and they strolled to victory in 91 overs, losing just two wickets, with more than a day to spare.

Aftermath

Gooch had enjoyed a successful series against West Indies as a batsman, and remained in charge for England's next match, against Sri Lanka at Lord's later in 1988, in which he achieved his first victory as captain. England did not tour that winter, and David Gower returned to the captaincy for the 6-match Ashes series at home against Australia in the summer of 1989. England lost 4–0, bringing Gower's long captaincy career to a close.

Gooch took over again as England captain for the tour to West Indies in the winter of 1989–90, winning one Test and drawing another before injury forced him out of the team. He was replaced temporarily as captain by Allan Lamb, who lost both of his matches in charge. Gooch went on to captain England the following summer, remaining in that position almost exclusively until 1993 and bringing England a degree of success that they had not experienced for almost a decade. For much of this period, he was also rated as the one of the world's leading batsmen. [cite web
url = http://www.lgiccrankings.com/test/batting/player-display.php?id=1503&graph=ranking
title = Graham Gooch Batting Test Ranking Statistics
accessdate = 2008-05-01
publisher = ICC Player Rankings - Official Rankings for International Cricket]

The West Indies team's next opposition was Australia where the team enjoyed a 3–1 Test series win on foreign soil. "The West Indians made a slow start to their tour, losing twice to Western Australia before running into form ... So effectively, at times irresistibly, did Vivian Richards's West Indian side play in the first three Test matches in Australia that by the New Year they had already retained the Frank Worrell Trophy." [cite web
url = http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988-89/WI_IN_AUS/
title = West Indies in Australia, 1988-89
accessdate = 2007-02-15
publisher = Cricinfo]

The West Indies went on to record further Test series victories in the next two years, defeating India 3–0 in a four-Test series in the Caribbean in 1988–89, [cite web
url = http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988-89/IND_IN_WI/
title = India in West Indies, 1988-89
accessdate = 2007-02-15
publisher = Cricinfo] and narrowly beating England once again in the Caribbean in 1989–90. [cite web
url = http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1989-90/ENG_IN_WI/
title = West Indies in England, 1989-90
accessdate = 2007-02-15
publisher = Cricinfo] However, the team's long period of pre-eminence was coming to an end. Their 2–1 home defeat by Australia in 1994-95 saw the West Indies relinquish the mantle as the World's best Test cricket side to their visitors, and by the time that the International Cricket Council launched the official Test rankings in 2001, the West Indies were rated as the sixth best team in the world. [cite web
url = http://icc-cricket.yahoo.com/media-release/2001/may/media-release20010515-3.html
title = ICC Test Championship opens with England v Pakistan at Lord's
publishdate = 2001-05-15
accessdate = 2008-05-01
publisher = International Cricket Council]

Squads

The following players represented England in at least one Test or One-day International during the 1988 tour:

The following players represented West Indies on the 1988 tour of England:

:"Key: *=Captain, †=Wicket-keeper"

References