# English cricket team in the West Indies in 2008–09

The England cricket team toured the West Indies between 25 January 2009 and 3 April 2009. Initially, it was intended that they play four Test matches, one Twenty20 International and five One Day Internationals against the West Indies cricket team. However, the abandonment of the Second Test due to the conditions of the field at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua led to the rapid inclusion of an additional game staged at the Antigua Recreation Ground, resulting in a five-match, rather than four-match Test series. The West Indies regained the Wisden Trophy by winning the Test series 1–0. They also won the Twenty20 match, but England won the ODI series 3–2.

## Build-up

Despite recent turmoils, England went into the series as firm favourite. The players claimed confidence, the ICC rankings placed them comfortably ahead of their adversaries, and the pundits were, under the circumstances, fairly buoyant. In The Daily Telegraph, Geoffrey Boycott opined that, with a fit Andrew Flintoff, England ought to prevail easily:
   I am not saying it will be a walkover. The one thing England do need is a fit Andrew Flintoff, throughout all the four Tests. If Freddie goes down injured, the odds for the series will turn around dramatically.

## Test series
### 1st Test

* 4–8 February Scorecard
* West Indies won by an innings and 23 runs Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica Umpires: Tony Hill (NZ) and Rudi Koertzen (SA) Player of the match: Jerome Taylor (WI)
* England won the toss and elected to bat.
* England's second-innings total of 51 is their third-lowest in Test cricket.

### 2nd Test

* 13–17 February Scorecard
* Match drawn Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua Umpires: Daryl Harper (Aus) and Tony Hill (NZ)
* West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
* Play was abandoned after 10 balls due to an overly sandy and dangerous outfield which left the bowlers to be unable to gain any solid footholds; an extra Test was scheduled. The Test match thus became the shortest in recorded history, overtaking the record previously held by another match in the West Indies in 1998 involving the same teams, which was abandoned under similar circumstances. The statistics of the abandoned Test stood, however, contributing to the statistics of all players involved.

### 3rd Test

* 15–19 February Scorecard
* Match drawn Antigua Recreation Ground, St. John's, Antigua Umpires: Daryl Harper (Aus) and Rudi Koertzen (SA) Player of the match: Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI)
* West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
* An additional Test match was added to the schedule following the abandonment of the 2nd Test; this took advantage of the fact that the abandoned game was in Antigua, which meant that the Antigua Recreation Ground was available. The newly scheduled 3rd Test began two days after the abandonment of the previous game.

### 4th Test

* 26 February – 2 March Scorecard
* Match drawn Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Russell Tiffin (Zim) Player of the match: Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI)
* England won the toss and elected to bat.

### 5th Test

* 6–10 March Scorecard
* Match drawn Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad Umpires: Daryl Harper (Aus) and Russell Tiffin (Zim) Player of the match: Matt Prior (Eng)
* England won the toss and elected to bat.
* Amjad Khan (Eng) and Lendl Simmons (WI) made their Test debuts.

## T20I series
### Only T20I

* 15 March Scorecard
| England 121 (19.1 overs) | v | West Indies 123/4 (18 overs) |
| Steven Davies 27 (21) Sulieman Benn 3/24 (4 overs) | | Ramnaresh Sarwan 59 (46) Amjad Khan 2/34 (4 overs) |
* West Indies won by 6 wickets Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad Umpires: Clyde Duncan (WI) and Norman Malcolm (WI) Player of the match: Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI)
* West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
* Gareth Batty, Steven Davies and Amjad Khan (Eng) made their T20I debuts.

## ODI series
### 1st ODI

* 20 March Scorecard
| England 270/7 (50 overs) | v | West Indies 244/7 (46.2 overs) |
| Paul Collingwood 69 (77) Kieron Pollard 2/46 (8 overs) | | Lendl Simmons 62 (105) Stuart Broad 3/41 (9.2 overs) |
* England won by 1 run (D/L) Providence Stadium, Guyana Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Clyde Duncan (WI) Player of the match: Paul Collingwood (Eng)
* England won the toss and elected to bat.
* Bad light ended West Indies's innings early. West Indies's coach Dyson told his batsmen to take the light after a miscalculation.

### 2nd ODI

* 22 March Scorecard
| West Indies 264/8 (50 overs) | v | England 243 (48.2 overs) |
| Shivnarine Chanderpaul 112* (134) James Anderson 3/37 (9 overs) | | Andrew Strauss 105 (129) Dwayne Bravo 2/40 (9 overs) |
* West Indies won by 21 runs Providence Stadium, Guyana Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Clyde Duncan (WI) Player of the match: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
* West Indies won the toss and elected to bat.

### 3rd ODI

* 27 March Scorecoard
| England 117 (41.4 overs) | v | West Indies 117/2 (14.4 overs) |
| Dimitri Mascarenhas 36 (76) Dwayne Bravo 4/19 (7 overs) | | Chris Gayle 80 (43) Stuart Broad 1/31 (3.4 overs) |
* West Indies won by 8 wickets (D/L) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and Steve Davis (Aus) Player of the match: Dwayne Bravo (WI)
* West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
* Rain reduced the match to 44 overs-a-side.

### 4th ODI

* 29 March Scorecard
| West Indies 239/9 (50 overs) | v | England 136/1 (18.3 overs) |
| Dwayne Bravo 69 (72) Dimitri Mascarenhas 3/26 (10 overs) | | Andrew Strauss 79* (61) Kieron Pollard 1/20 (4 overs) |
* England won by 9 wickets (D/L) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and Steve Davis (Aus) Player of the match: Andrew Strauss (Eng)
* England won the toss and elected to field.
* Rain reduced the England innings to a maximum of 20 overs.

### 5th ODI

* 3 April Scorecard
| England 172/5 (29 overs) | v | West Indies 146 (28 overs) |
| Kevin Pietersen 48 (48) Sulieman Benn 2/23 (6 overs) | | Dwayne Bravo 33 (46) Andrew Flintoff 5/19 (5 overs) |
* England won by 26 runs Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia Umpires: Steve Davis (Aus) and Norman Malcolm (WI) Player of the match: Andrew Flintoff (Eng)
* West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
* Rain reduced the match to 29 overs-a-side.
* Andrew Flintoff took a hat-trick with the wickets of Denesh Ramdin (bowled), Ravi Rampaul (LBW) and Sulieman Benn (bowled).

## Tour matches
### St Kitts Invitational XI v England XI

* 25–27 January Scorecard
* England XI won by 217 runs Warner Park, Basseterre, St. Kitts Umpires: Luther Kelly (WI) and Wycliffe Mitchum (WI)
* England XI won the toss and elected to bat.
* England XI were originally scheduled to use 11 players, but ended up using 13 after injuries to Andrew Flintoff and Owais Shah. The St Kitts side used 14.

### First-class: West Indies A v England XI

* 29–31 January Scorecard
* Match drawn Warner Park, Basseterre, St. Kitts Umpires: Luther Kelly (WI) and Wycliffe Mitchum (WI)
* West Indies A won the toss and elected to bat.

### Barbados Cricket Association President's XI v England XI

* 22–23 February Scorecard
* Match drawn Windward Park, Lucas Street, Barbados Umpires: Vincent Bullen (WI) and Anthony Farrell (WI)
* BCA President's XI won the toss and elected to field.
* The BCA President's XI used 13 players in the match (11 batting, 11 fielding).

### West Indies Players' Association XI v England XI

* 14 March Scorecard
| England XI 299/8 (50 overs) | v | WIPA XI 248 (43.4 overs) |
| Dimitri Mascarenhas 84* Atiba Allert 3/59 (10 overs) | | Samuel Badree 84* Steve Harmison 4/59 (8.4 overs) |
* England XI won by 51 runs Guaracara Park, Pointe-à-Pierre, Trinidad Umpires: Terence Birbal (WI) and Peter Nero (WI) Player of the match: Samuel Badree (WIPA XI) and Dimitri Mascarenhas (Eng)
* England XI won the toss and elected to bat.
* The West Indies Players Association XI used 13 players in the match (11 batting, 11 fielding).