West Indian cricket team in England in 1969

The West Indies cricket team toured England in the 1969 season to play a three-match Test series against England. England won the series 2-0 with one match drawn.

The West Indian tour was scheduled for the first half of the English cricket season, and the weather for much of May 1969 was damp and cold. A second touring side, from New Zealand, played three Tests against England in the second half of the season – see the article New Zealand cricket team in England in 1969.

The touring team was captained by Gary Sobers. Lance Gibbs was the vice-captain, although Basil Butcher acted as captain in a couple of the matches.

The full team was:

Only five players – Sobers, Gibbs, Butcher, Carew and Hendriks – had been on the previous tour of England in 1966. There were seven players with no previous Test experience in the party: five of them – Findlay, Foster, Holder, Shepherd and Shillingford – made their Test debuts in this series. The other two, Blair and Roberts, never played Test match cricket.

Notable absentees were Rohan Kanhai (injured) and wicketkeeper Deryck Murray, who would not be released for the full tour by Nottinghamshire.

England (413 and 12 for no wicket) beat the West Indies (147 and 275) by 10 wickets. England's success was built on 128 from Geoffrey Boycott, who shared a 112 opening partnership with John Edrich (58) and a third wicket 128 with Tom Graveney, who scored 75 in his 79th and final Test, during which he was 42 years old. West Indies dropped eight catches on the first day alone. Basil D'Oliveira (51) and the tail took the total beyond 400 and West Indies were soon five for two with both openers gone. David Brown and John Snow each took four wickets and no West Indian batsman reached 35. England captain Ray Illingworth enforced the follow-on, and despite consistent batting by the upper order, with 64 from Fredericks, 44 from Carew, 48 from Butcher and 48 also from Sobers, the deficit was only just cleared.

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