West Indian cricket team in England in 1900

The M.C.C. ruled that none of the matches were first-class. "It was perhaps, a pity that it was deemed advisable not to consider the West Indian matches as first-class, but it is difficult to see how this could be avoided; for on the form shown during the early part of the tour, the team would have been hopelessly out of the running, while, when the turn of the tide came, it was far too late to make any changes".[4]

Of the 17 matches, 10 were against teams in the County Championship and they also played London County and the M.C.C. who were also first-class teams at that time. The remaining 5 matches were against minor teams, three were Minor Counties and while one match was against a combined Minor Counties team this was not at all representative. Liverpool and District were not regarded as first-class at this time.

WG Grace had collected together a strong side to meet the West Indians in their first match. The tourists made a bad start when Aucher Warner lost the toss and WG and James Gilman added 135 for the first wicket. Tommie Burton then dismissed both openers and with Float Woods bowling Len Braund cheaply the West Indians were in a better position. Jack Mason however then scored 126 in 125 minutes and with useful scoring by Albert Lawton they reached 432/8 at the close.

A thunderstorm made the pitch easy for a while and Howard Parkes and Edward Berridge took the score to 538. The tourists were quickly 29/4 in reply with Charles Ollivierre being run out before Percy Goodman and Percy Cox added 113 together. Mason then took cheap wickets and left the side 176/8 at the close.

On the third day, Warner and Woods added 59 for the last wicket to take the total to 237. Following-on, they were dismissed for just 103 with Grace and Mason taking five wickets each. Ollivierre and Warner top scored with 20 each.

Bowring, Hinds and Kerr replaced D'Ade, Mignon and Warner. Sproston lost the toss and Worcestershire, who had 9 professionals in the team, batted and scored 307 in about 4 hours with Harry Foster top scoring with 79. Float Woods took 5/77 but otherwise the bowling was ineffective. The tourists made a poor start in reply and were 85/6 at the end of the first day with Frederick Pearson taking 4 cheap wickets. Pearson was only 19 and still qualifying for Worcestershire and so was only available for non-Championship matches in 1900.

Rain had affected the pitch overnight and despite a useful stand of 74 between Stanley Sproston and Percy Cox the West Indians were dismissed for 187 with Pearson taking 6/73. Worcestershire then made 257 with Pearson top scoring with 88 not out and Charles Ollivierre taking 4/37. The visitors were 61/4 at the close.

Fitz Hinds and Sproston added useful runs on the third day but after they were out the match was over soon after lunch. Pearson, who took another 4 wickets to make his match figures 10/108 to go with 100 runs for once out, was the star of the match.

Warner and Mignon returned to the side and Livingston made his debut. Burton was left out together with Constantine and Kerr. Warner lost the toss and by the end of the first day Warwickshire were 456/9 with Dick Lilley scoring 55 in an hour and John Hill scoring 145 in 200 minutes.

On the second day the Warwickshire team were soon dismissed for 456 which included 35 byes and 14 leg-byes. Tourists reached 233 with Charles Ollivierre and Percy Cox adding 109 useful runs for the second wicket. Cox top scored with 79. Both Percy Goodman and Gilbert Livingston were run out. Following-on they were dismissed cheaply for 122 on a showery third day.

The tourists left out Hinds, Kerr, Livingston and Mignon for their first match at Lord's. There was no play on the first day due to rain. Warner lost the toss and WG Grace and Andrew Stoddart opened the batting on the second day. The tourists had early success but an innings of 118 from Arthur Somerset and other useful performances by the tail gave the M.C.C. over 200 for the last 4 wickets and a good total.

The West Indies struggled in reply and were 190 all out, George Learmond making 52 and adding 75 in 30 minutes with Charles Ollivierre. WG took 5 wickets. Following-on they were again in trouble at 132/8 and heading for an innings defeat. However Lebrun Constantine scored a magnificent 113 in 90 minutes. Assisted by Tommie Burton they added 162 for the 9th wicket in 65 minutes. Burton eventually made 64* and left the M.C.C. a target of 107 in a little over 2 hours. Stoddart took 7 wickets, all clean bowled. The two Professionals bowled well to reduce the M.C.C. to 36/4 but they reached their target with 5 minutes to spare for the loss of only one further wicket.

Hinds, Kerr and Mignon replaced D'Ade, Goodman and Warner. The Minor Counties side was not at all representative and had 7 Northamptonshire players joined by Creber and Lowe from Glamorgan, Williams from Berkshire and Elliott from Durham. Sproston won the toss for the first time and the tourists made 206 with Charles Ollivierre making 69 in 2 hours. George Thompson took 7/84.

In reply the Minor Counties made 261 with Tommie Burton taking 6/55. Batting again the West Indians were in trouble but with 68 from Fitz Hinds and 30s from Percy Cox and William Bowring they set a target of 116. The Minor Counties were then dismissed for just 54 with Float Woods (4/31), Burton (3/11) and William Mignon (2/5) doing all the bowling and giving the tourists their first victory.

Goodman and Warner replaced Cox and Kerr. Gloucestershire won the toss and batted. The tourists had a good start taking 3 quick wickets but Stanley Brown scored a useful 60 and was out at 90/4. Charlie Townsend then joined Harry Wrathall and the pair added 209 for the fifth wicket, Gloucestershire then being 299/5. Gilbert Jessop then joined Townsend. Jessop reach his 50 in 20 minutes, 83 in 30, 102 in 43 and was out for 157 scored in an hour. He added 201 with Townsend in the hour taking the total to 500/6. His innings contain 29 4s. At this time a 6 was awarded only for hits out of the ground, so an unknown number of these 4s could have been modern-day 6s. Jessop hit Float Woods for five fours and a three in one over. Gloucestershire reached 518/7 at the close. Woods had strained himself in the previous match and could not bowl comfortably. In addition Tommie Burton damaged his foot at lunchtime and didn't bowl for the rest of the day.

On the second day Gloucestershire were all out for 619. Burton's figures of 5/68 in 25 overs look impressive but he had taken 3 wickets before lunch on the first day and took 2 tail-enders wickets on the second day and had not bowled when the runs were being piled on. William Mignon took 5/162, dismissing Wrathall, Townsend and Jessop, but Charles Ollivierre with 0/137 and Woods with 0/141 really suffered. Fitz Hinds did no better with 0/72 in just 8 overs.

When they batted the tourists collapsed for 98 with Percy Goodman run out for 38, Townsend and Frederick Roberts taking the wickets. Following-on they did much better. Lebrun Constantine top scored with 65 and 10 of the team reached double figures to give a respectable total of 307 reached by noon on the third day.

Plum Warner played for West Indians in this match. He and Cox replaced Aucher Warner and Bowring. Sproston won the toss and Plum Warner and Charles Ollivierre then added 238 for the first wicket in 135 minutes, Warner made 113 and Ollivierre was eventually run out for 159 scored in 190 minutes. The day ended with the score at 307/4.

Lebrun Constantine scored a useful 41 on the second day to take the score to 383. Leicestershire collapsed for 80 with Float Woods taking 5/39 and Tommie Burton 4/39. Following-on they did much better and were 210/5 at the close of the second day, Charles de Trafford having scored 51. When play started on the third day Cecil Wood was soon out for 77 and the match was soon over, Burton taking 4/63 in the innings.

Aucher Warner replaced his brother Plum in the side and the tourists had a three-day break before the match. Warner lost the toss again and the Nottinghamshire team scored 501 with William Gunn scoring 161 in 210 minutes out of 274. They were 343/4 at the close. On the second day James Iremonger scored 101. Tommie Burton took 5/159 in 73.3 overs in the innings.

In reply Percy Cox scored 55 but the West Indians were 124/6 at stumps. On the final day Aucher Warner reached 53* but the tourists followed-on 292 behind. In reply Stanley Sproston scored 72, Charles Ollivierre 50 and Lebrun Constantine 50*. Gunn took 7 wickets in the match with his lobs.

Bowring and Livingston were brought in for Learmond and Mignon. Warner lost the toss as usual and Wiltshire scored 313 and the tourists were 83/3 at the close with Lebrun Constantine scoring 43 in 20 minutes before being run out.

On the second day the tourists did badly and only got 37 more runs. William Overton took 7/35 in the innings. Following-on they did even worse, Constantine again being top score with 32. This was regarded as the worst performance of the tour.

Learmond and Mignon replaced Goodman and Livingston. Warner lost the toss but Lancashire were dismissed for 187 with William Mignon taking 6/44. Henry Cudworth, who only placed a single first-class match in his career, scored 102 in 2 hours. In reply the tourists scored 174 with Charles Ollivierre scoring 44. Johnny Briggs was rested and did not bowl.

On the second day Lancashire were bowled out for 182, Briggs scoring 64, AN Hornby being absent having been injured fielding on the first day. Mignon took 4 more wickets to make it 10/117 in the match. Set a target of 196 the West Indies were 109/4 but after Ollivierre was out for 60 they fell well short. Briggs was turned loose and took 7/43 in the innings.

D'Ade and Goodman replaced Learmond and Warner. Derbyshire won the toss and scored 234. Tommie Burton with 4/78 and Percy Cox with 5/61 doing the damage. The West Indies were 38/1 at stumps.

On the second day the tourists passed the Derbyshire total but a thunderstorm caused two and a quarter hours of play to be lost at the end of the day. Lebrun Constantine and Percy Goodman had added 103 for the fifth wicket in just over an hour. Goodman eventually made 104* in a little over 2 hours. John Hulme did most of the damage taking 6/77. Derbyshire were 74/5 but recovered to score 182/7 before declaring leaving the tourists just 11 overs in which they reached 45/2. William Storer top scored in both innings for Derbyshire.

Kerr replaced Constantine. Staffordshire won the toss and scored 256 with Albert Hollowood scoring 103 in 3 hours. Tommie Burton took 7/100 in 42 overs. The West Indies were 42/1 at the close.

On the second day the tourists reached 228 with Fitz Hinds making 79. With only two days allocated the match was always likely to be drawn.

Learmond replaced Kerr. Sproston won the toss and scored 366/9 on the first day Percy Cox and Percy Goodman adding 105 for the second wicket. Stanley Sproston top scored with 86 and William Bowring also contributed 63 useful runs. Charles Llewellyn bowled 54 overs in the innings taking 7/153.

Thunderstorms on the second day stopped play for three hours with Hampshire on 101/2 and only Victor Barton with 59 and Llewellyn with 93 had much success on a poor pitch. Float Woods took 6/93. The tourists were 20/0 at the close. The wicket was still poor on the third day and Llewellyn was again successful taking 6/34. Hampshire had little chance of victory and the two Professionals soon dispatched them, Woods taking 4/55 and Tommie Burton 5/50. The tourists had the best of the conditions for a change.

Constantine replaced Learmond. Sproston won the toss and the tourists batted. Charles Ollivierre and Percy Cox opened the batting and were not parted until Ollivierre was caught at square leg for 94 off Livingstone Walker, the score standing at 208. Cox was eventually out for 142 scored out of 261. Walker was the seventh bowler used but had great success taking 8/72 in 15 overs. Percy Goodman scored 34* but otherwise the wickets fell rapidly and the score eventually reached only 328. When Surrey batted Float Woods was unplayable and the batting team were soon 30/6 with Woods at this stage having figures of 5/8. John Shuter and Walker led a short recovery and Surrey were 86/7 at the close.

On the second morning Surrey were dismissed for 117 with Woods taking 7/48 in 19 overs. Following-on Surrey made a good start but soon started losing wickets. Edward Dowson was run out for the second time in the match when going well and Walker again batted well. Woods took 5/68 to make it 12 wickets in the match. Tommie Burton took the remaining 6 wickets. This was regarded as the best victory of the tour.

The tourists kept the same side and Sproston again won the toss and batted. Percy Cox scored 76 and Stanley Sproston scored 118 in 110 minutes, the two adding over 100 for the 5th wicket. William Mignon joined Sproston for the last wicket and despite making only 1* helped Sproston take his score from 64 to 118 and the West Indies to 265. Cecil Holden made 86 for Liverpool but Tommie Burton and Cox took 5 wickets each to give the tourists a first innings lead of 47. There had been no play at all on the second day.

There was only three and a half hours of play remaining when the tourists started their second innings which they declared closed at 124/5. Liverpool reached 100/0 at the close with Hubert Pilkington making 68* and Holden 23*.

Lebrun Constantine was given out in this match when a ball played by him lodged in his leg guard. The Liverpool wicket-keeper Arthur Kemble rushed up and picked the ball out and Constantine was initially given out. However the decision was then reversed, the law having changed in 1899, and he was allowed to continue his innings.

Learmond replaced Mignon. Sproston lost the toss but play was limited to 25 minutes on the opening day. The match was abandoned on the second day.

Kerr replaced Learmond. Norfolk won the toss and batted. Float Woods and Percy Cox had Norfolk in all sorts of trouble but they eventually reached 117. Woods had taken 5/38 and Cox 4/44. The tourists also stated badly but Lionel D'Ade rescued the situation with 68* to enable the tourists to gain a first innings lead of 48. D'Ade had taken 2 hours for his first 34. Charles Shore took 5/64 for Norfolk.

When Norfolk batted again Burton was unplayable and took 8/9 in 10.4 overs including a spell of 5/0 in 5 overs. With Woods, who took 2/22 in 10 overs, they bowled unchanged and dismissed the county for just 32.

Of the 17 matches played, 5 matches were won, 8 were lost and 4 were drawn.

It is worth noting that in the 7 matches he played in Aucher Warner lost the toss each time. On each occasion the West Indians had to field first and on each occasion they lost the match. Stanley Sproston had more luck, winning the toss 5 times out of 10.

The first 10 matches were all won by the team batting first and it was only in the very last match against Norfolk that the team batting second won a game.

PF Warner played in 1 match, scoring 113.

1 catch was taken by a substitute fielder.

Woods bowled 5 no balls and 1 wide. Burton 1 no ball, Cox 1 no ball and 1 wide, Mignon 7 wides, Constantine 1 wide.