Tour of West Indies 1995-96             Captain : Lee Germon

33rd official Test tour.

Third Test-playing tour of West Indies by New Zealand

 (March  -  May 1996)

Glenn Turner had organised the New Zealand team skilfully to perform well in the recent World Cup and now they just lost a closely-fought one-day series against West Indies by 3 matches to two.

However, Turner’s approach as “overlord, with Germon as his puppet captain” [Richard Boock WCM March 2008] brought conflict with several players who would not accept his methods, notably Adam Parore and Chris Cairns who left the tour early when he mercifully tore a rib muscle in the nets and was handed a plane ticket to send him home.

On St Vincent, New Zealand won a first-class match in the Caribbean for the first time but then sunk badly in the first Test at Bridgetown.  With a draw in the second Test, New Zealand lost yet another series and with it went Turner’s chance of convincing the Board he should hold on to his coaching post. The Board effectively backed player power and brought in Steve Rixon to bring the star players back into the fold, although without much change to results on the field.

All New Zealand tours

Previous tour

India 1995-96

Next tour

Pakistan 1996-97

Next tour of West Indies

2001-02

Members of the Test tour party (14 + 3)

Opening batsmen  Chris Spearman, Roger Twose

Middle-order batsmen  Stephen Fleming, Adam Parore, Nathan Astle, [+ Mark Bailey and Justin Vaughan(reinforcements)]

Wicket-keepers  Lee Germon

All-rounder:  Chris Cairns

Medium-paced bowler:  Gavin Larsen, Chris Harris

Spin bowlers  Dipak Patel, Shane Thomson [+ Mark Haslam(reinforcement)]

Fast bowlers  Rob Kennedy, Danny Morrison, Dion Nash.

Provincial representation

A - Auckland (3)

C - Canterbury (5)

CD - Central Districts (0)

ND - Northern Districts (3)

O - Otago (1)

W - Wellington (2)  

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(19 April 1996): 

27 yrs  2 months.

ODI played in one-day series

Test Appearances made before the tour

Morrison 45,  Patel 30,  Parore 26,  Thomson 19,  Fleming 18,  Cairns 16,  Nash 14,  Germon 6,  Larsen 6,  Harris 5,  Twose 5,  Haslam 4,  Spearman 3,  Astle 2,  Kennedy 2,  Vaughan 1, Bailey 0. 

Team Officials

Selectors

Glenn Turner (convenor) was in India for the World Cup and consulted the other two selectors, Richard Pickard  and  Mike Shrimpton, by telephone conference.

They needed to decide whether to amend their squad after the World Cup or after the one-day matches in West Indies.

Selection

Unavailable  : Martin Crowe (because of damage to his knees, he was lost to the World Cup squad at the eleventh hour)

The World Cup squad was announced on …………….

For the West Indian tour, the selectors retained the same tour party of fourteen as for the World Cup (Astle, Cairns, Fleming, Germon, Harris, Kennedy, Larsen, Morrison, Nash, Parore, Patel, Spearman, Thomson, Twose) and would add to it later their fifteenth permitted player for the tour’s Test leg.

Test Tour Party Announced : 12 March 1996.

Not selected:  Simon Doull.

Time between selection of World Cup squad and departure from New Zealand      x days

( ……  to 6 February)

Travel

Auckland  Q Bombay

MadrasQ LondonQ Kingston

The New Zealanders flew from ………….. on approx Tuesday 6 February, landing at Bombay on 7 February. Their first World Cup match was 14 February.

Their last match in the Wills World Cup was a quarter-final against Australia at Madras on 11 March. Originally, the side was to return to New Zealand but the plans changed. The team had a day for team organisation in Madras, and three days of R & R in London, before flying to Kingston, Jamaica, where they arrived on 19 March.

Time spent in West Indies

   x days

(19 March - depart Host)

On-tour selection panel

Lee Germon (captain) and  Glenn Turner (coach)  only.

Reinforcements

ADDED ▷     Bailey, Haslam, Vaughan

◁ W/D   Thomson, Cairns.

Mark Bailey

Mark Haslam

Justin Vaughan came in as a replacement for Shane Thomson

Chris Cairns left the tour early with damaged ribs: he flew to England to join his county club Nottinghamshire. Dion Nash

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§ one-day international

Time spent in West Indies before First Test: 

31 days

(19 March - 19 April)

Test appearances on tour

2  -   Astle,  Fleming,  Germon,  Harris,  Kennedy,  Larsen,  Morrison,  Spearman,  Twose,  Vaughan

1  -   Parore,  Patel.

0  -   Bailey,  Cairns, Haslam,  Nash, Thomson.

Highlights

•   Nathan Astle scored a century in the first Test

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Tour Summary

Return to New Zealand

Hamilton  Q London  Q Christchurch

“Cairns damaged rib muscles during an over-strenuous net session and was ruled out of the first Test. ….. Cairns said he wanted to go to Nottinghamshire if he was not considered as a batsman for the second Test. Gren Alabaster, the manager, solved that impasse by handing Cairns his plane ticket.”  [WCM]

The second Test finished on 2 May. After the last match in Bermuda the team flew to London on 12 May 1996.

The team arrived home in Christchurch on Tuesday 14 May 1996.  Turner said the tour was too long and all the players were fighting against the urge to get home.

Time away from New Zealand    98 days  

(6 February to 14 May)

Finances