1999: English Cricket's 'Annus Horribilis'

 It was a year that saw the 'Carnival Of Cricket' roll into town but ended in despair, dismay and humiliation as England tumbled out of the World Cup and face further ignominy in the test arena. This is the sorry tale of English cricket's 'annus horribilis'. 

The trouble was, it all seemed to start so well. Despite having been dumped out of the previous World Cup by host nation and eventual champions Sri Lanka in 1996, hope was high going into the 1999 tournament following England's triumph in the 1997 Sharjah Cup. The team, captained by Adam Hollioake, was filled with one-day specialist players who should have formed the backbone of the squad ready to take the field for the World Cup on home soil. 

Captain Adam Hollioake celebrates with the trophy after England's win in the 1997 staging of the Sharjah Cup. 

What happened instead saw several of England's test players shoe-horned into the squad in a poor display of muddled selection. Esteemed white-ball names such as Nick Knight and Chris Lewis were ousted with Nasser Hussain being chosen to open the batting ahead of Knight. Further preparation problems plagued England, coach David 'Bumble' Lloyd's preferred choice of training base in Leicester was instead given to India with the home side forced to prepare for the tournament in Canterbury. 

Despite the behind-the-scenes issues and a damp squib of an opening ceremony, England served up a perfect riposte to the team that ended their chances three years earlier as they turned out a dominant eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Lord's. Alan Mullally's figures of 4-37 helped the home side on their way to bundling the reigning champions all out for 204. Alec Stewart's 88 paired with Graeme Hick's 73* contributed to England attaining their target after 46.5 overs. 

Another routing came in England's second game when they faced Kenya at the St. Lawrence Ground in Kent. Again choosing to bowl, it was the turn of charismatic Yorkshireman Darren Gough to take the plaudits taking 4-34 to help dispatch of the Kenyans all out for 203. Once again, the England batsman broke little sweat on their way to reaching their target. Hussain perhaps justified his selection ahead of Knight with a crunching 88* off 127 balls. Despite Stewart's cheap dismissal for 23 off the bowling of Thomas Odoyo, Hick posted 61* to ease any worries of a collapse. 

With everything going swimmingly, South Africa quickly brought England back down to earth with a bump via a crushing 122 run win at The Oval. Decent scores from the opening pair of Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs (45 and 60 respectively) along with a handy 48* from Lance Kluesener helped the Proteas to a what proved to be unassailable total of 225-7 from their 50 overs. England, in reply, could only limp to 103 all out thanks, in no small part to Alan Donald ripping through the middle order on his way to a tremendous personal haul of 17-4. 

Alec Stewart trudges off the field after being dismissed in England's defeat to South Africa at the 1999 Cricket World Cup

A seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge should have helped settle nerves but instead just served as a prelude to another demoralising defeat as India left Edgbaston as winners via a 63-run victory which again saw England's response to a target of 232 fall desperately short, ending on 169 all out. 

Remarkably, despite the desperate nature of the defeats, England still had a chance of qualifying for the new 'Super Six' phase of the competition. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe pulled off a surprise 48-run win over the already-qualified South Africans in Chelmsford to progress at the expense of the home nation via a superior net run rate. 

In the aftermath, coach Lloyd resigned from his position and in an almost comical twist of fate the team had been dumped out of the World Cup before their official tournament anthem had been released in shops. 

Tragically enough, further damage was about to be done. 

Jubilant New Zealand players celebrate their 2-1 series win over England in 1999

New Zealand had only ever won two test series against England in the lead-up to their 1999 tour, one at home and one away. What they didn't know as they arrived at Edgbaston for the first test was that they were about to win a series that would cause almost irreparable damage to English cricket. 

Despite the World Cup fiasco, a lack of coach and a perceived motivation deficiency, England were able to pull off a thumping seven-wicket win over the Kiwis. In a low-scoring encounter, the home side found themselves 100 runs adrift of the tourists' first innings total of 226. New Zealand's paltry second innings display that saw them collapse for 107 all out opened the door for England. Man of the match Alex Tudor's superb 99* helped the home side to victory. 

If England's win in the first test was thumping, there was a resounding air about New Zealand's response as a nine-wicket victory not only levelled the series but provided the tourists with their first ever win at Lord's. Despite electing to bat on a decent batsman's track, England were restricted to 186 all out with help from an outstanding spell of 6-77 from Chris Cairns. A century from Matt Horne assisted New Zealand to grind out a first innings total of 358. As had been the case in their first innings, England were found wanting as they again stuttered to 229 all out (fast bowler Andy Caddick top scored with 45 off 96 balls) leaving New Zealand needing just 60 to win, a total they easily ate up inside just 23 overs. 

The weather gods smiled on England just when they needed them in the third test at Old Trafford as archetypal Mancunian rain aided the home side when they were in a dangerously precarious position. Another low-scoring total of 199 all out with Mark Ramprakash top scoring with 69* was answered emphatically by the tourists as they declared on 496/9 with Craig McMillan adding 107* for good measure in addition to Nathan Astle's 101. By the time the adverse weather conditions arrived, England were on 181-2. 

After the weather enforced drawn third test, the score stood ominously at 1-1 as the series ticked over to it's fourth and final test. Storm clouds were gathering, although this time they were metaphorical rather than meteorological. 

83 runs proved to be the margin of defeat as England tumbled to the bottom of the Wisden world test rankings. Their limp response of 153 all out to New Zealand's first innings total of 236 all out left them with work to do, especially after Cairns had knocked 80 to aid his team's second innings total of 162 all out. Unfortunately for the home side they could only match, not better their opponent's second innings total thus leaving them 83 short and unassailably 2-1 behind in the series. 

Jeers rang around The Oval that could probably be heard all over South London as Nasser Hussain clambered up the steps for the customary post-match television interview. 'We've Got The Worst Team In The World' became the song that became the soundtrack to England's year of ignominy. 

Recently appointed England captain Nasser Hussain faces the media after England's test series defeat to New Zealand

Change was needed, thankfully it came as the phrase 'central contract' entered the English cricketing lexicon. 

Thanks for taking a look at this piece, there'll be more on a regular basis from The 1990s Sports Blog as we take a look at a plethora of sporting events between 1990 and 1999. Follow me on Twitter @DanBarkerGray to stay up to date with the latest articles.