Australian cricket team in the West Indies in 2003

The Australian cricket team toured the West Indies from April to June, 2003, outside the normal West Indies cricket season, to play for the Frank Worrell Trophy.

It was Steve Waugh's last tour overseas and Australia were without Shane Warne who was on a drugs ban and missing Glenn McGrath for two of the Tests through injury. Their absence was compounded by painfully slow pitches, particularly at Bridgetown, and Australia played 5 bowlers in all four Tests.

The Test series would culminate during the final test at St John's, where there would be a vicious altercation between Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sarwan, as well as a record run chase by the struggling West Indies side which remained their most recent test match win against Australia till 2024.

Whilst the West Indies saved face in the last Test and three ODI matches, Australia were clearly the superior team.

Squads
* ODIs only

Tour background
In early 2003, Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was banned from cricket by the Australian Cricket Board drugs panel. In a drug test, Warne was found to be positive for hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride, a form of diuretic. His year long ban saw Warne miss the 2003 Cricket World Cup as well as Australia's tour of the West Indies. Warne has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs and claimed that the substance was a fluid tablet from his mother.

Fast bowler Glenn McGrath would be granted leave from the tour early on and would return home to Australia to support his wife Jane, who had recently been diagnosed with metastatic disease in her hip.

Tour match
The university would win the toss in this tour match and elect to bat first. A young Chris Gayle would score a century, assisted by Jason Haynes, who would score a half century, but would be the only real resistance against the Australians. Stuart MacGill would take five wickets for the Australians, giving them momentum going into their innings, where Langer and Maher would start the innings with a 202 run partnership. The Aussies would declare with 258 runs on the board. A poor second innings would follow for the Chancellor's XI, with them only managing to set Australia a target of 95 runs. MacGill you grab another five wicket haul giving him 10 wickets for the match and man of the match honours as the Aussies would shuffle their line up to easily take the victory.

Test series
The teams played a four-match Test series, competing for the Frank Worrell Trophy, named after the first black captain of the West Indies. The trophy was first contested during 1960/61 in Australia, with the home nation being victorious.

1st Test
West Indies captain Brian Lara won the toss and chose to bat first on a flat pitch. West Indies scored 237, with a century by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but Australia, led by centuries from both Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting scored 489 in reply. West Indies replied with centuries from Ganga and Lara in the second innings, but left Australia a small target of 147, which was chased with the loss of only one wicket. Due to the flat nature of the pitch, Australia would benefit by using the unorthodox strategy of playing five bowlers, which proved to be a major factor in their victory. Justin Langer would be named man of the match, top scoring in both innings for the Australians.

2nd Test
Australia would win the toss and elect to bat first. The decision was criticised after the early dismissal of the Aussie openers, but Ponting and Lehmann would steady the ship with a 335 run partnership. The West Indian captain would hit another century, to get the West Indies to 408. In the Australian second innings Mathew Hayden would stand up with a century just before Waugh's declaration. On the last day the West Indies would fall 118 runs short of the 407 run target, giving Australia a 2–0 lead in the series.

3rd Test
After winning the toss the West Indies made the controversial decision of electing to field first. This Test would be controlled by Shane Warne's replacement, Stuart MacGill who took 4 and 5 wickets in each innings respectively. This test would mark the return of Glen McGrath from time with his wife. Australia's current and incumbent captains Waugh and Ponting would score centuries in the first innings, with Australia declaring for 609 runs. The future of Australian cricket was clear, but the West Indies had a leadership crisis going on. West Indies would struggle, only scoring 328 then being forced to follow on, where they would only be able to set Australia a target of 8, which was easily chased, clenching the series for the Australians, whilst also moving them to the top of the ICC Test Standings, making them the best test nation in the world.

4th Test


The toss was won by Waugh who elected to bat. Ponting, the player of the series and Wisden ‘Leading Player of the Year’ would miss the test due to illness and be replaced by Martin Love, but Australia still struggled with not a single batsman passing 50. However, Jermaine Lawson stood tall for the West Indies, taking seven wickets in the first innings, including both Aussie openers. Lara top scored for the West Indies in their first innings, equalling them with Australia after the first innings at 240. In the 2nd innings both Aussie openers would past the century mark, with the first wicket falling for 242, more than both teams first innings total. They went on the set the Caribbean a record chase of 418.

They struggled early, being 74/3, but Sarwan and Chanderpaul would both stand up for the nation with centuries. Controversy would come out of this innings, due to a sledging incident between McGrath and Sarwan. McGrath asked Sarwan, “What does Brian Lara’s d*** taste like?”, to which the West Indian replied, “I don’t know, ask your wife”. This aggravated McGrath, who had missed the first two tests in the series due to his wife's cancer. The exchange culminated with McGrath saying “If you ever fucking mention my wife again I’ll fucking rip your fucking throat out!”. The verbal barrage would not impact the West Indies as they set the record for the highest successful 4th innings run chase in test cricket and won the match, to bring the series to 3-1 Australia.

ODI series
The teams played a seven match One Day International series following the conclusion of the Test series.

1st ODI
The West Indies won the toss and chose to field first. Jason Gillespie would be rested and Ricky Ponting would return from his illness to captain the Australian's, top scoring with 59. Australia would finish 270/5 with high strike rate innings from Bevan and Harvey. The West Indies would struggle in their chase with no batsman passing 50. During their innings rain would stop play and meant a revised target would be set of 208, which would need to be scored in 37 overs, which the West Indies fell 3 short of to give Australia an early lead in the series. Continuing their record-breaking winning streak in ODI's.

2nd ODI
The West Indies would again win the toss but choose to bat first. The Caribbean nations would struggle with the bat, with not a single batsman passing 50 and them being all out for 163. Glen McGrath would be the pick of the bowlers taking 4 wickets in his 10 overs. It was an easy chase for the Australian's with Ponting and Hayden scoring half centuries. Glen McGrath would receive man of the match honours and Australia would go up 2–0 in the series.

3rd ODI
The West Indies would continue their domination of the coin toss, electing to field first. The Australian's would struggle early, but allrounder Andrew Symonds and future captain Michael Clarke would each score 75 in a 95 run partnership to help Australia to 258. The West Indies would continue their struggles with the bat, with no batsmen going on to get big scores, although many got starts. Jason Gillespie would be the pick of the Aussie bowlers and Michael Clarke would be man of the match as Australia went one win away from leading the series.

4th ODI
Australia would finally win the ever important toss and choose to bat first. Adam Gilchrist would be the pick of the Australian players with an 84 and Michael Clarke would contribute with 55. Vasbert Drakes would pick up 2 wickets for the West Indies to keep them in the match. The team in maroon would need 287 in the 50 overs. future captain Chris Gayle fought hard with an 84, but the rest of his side would collapse, with them only managing 219. The wickets would be spread amongst the aussie bowlers with Ponting and Symonds getting runouts to help Australia to a series victory and Adam Gilchrist would be named man of the match.

5th ODI
The West Indies again won the toss and elected to bat first. Hinds and Lara put on a 178 run partnership to guide the West Indies to a 290 run total. Brett Lee was the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets. Only Andrew Symonds would stand up for Australia with 77, Mervyn Dillon took 3 wickets for the Caribbean, leading them to a victory by 39 runs. In this match David Bernard would debut and Brian Lara will be named man of the match.

6th ODI
Australia won the toss and elected to bat. An opening stand of 90 would help them to 252, but they lost constant wickets. Chris Gayle would be the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets and then scoring 18 runs. Wavell Hinds would be named player of the match after his century, The West Indies would win with 8 balls to spare and would bring the series to 4-2 going into the final match of the tour.

7th ODI
Australia would win the toss in the final match of the tour and elected to bat first. Darren Lehmann would make an impact scoring a century before being dismissed by Chris Gayle. Gayle would take a 5 wicket haul, then score 60 in a 116 run partnership with Hinds who scored a century. It was a tough decision for man of the match, but it would be awarded to Gayle, but Hinds would be acknowledged with the player of the series award, after criticism of underperforming in the recent World Cup, and helped the West Indies bring the series up to a respectable 4–3.