History of the West Indian cricket team Indian pace attack) and Roger Harper (who came and went). However, this did not immediately affect their performance. Richie Richardson proved to be a decent successor to Richards. A new crop of young players emerged such as Brian Lara, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop, Jimmy Adams, Carl Hooper, Phil Simmons, Keith Arthurton and Winston Benjamin. It was five more years before the West Indies lost a series, but they had a number of close shaves before then. Making a comeback to international cricket, South Africa played its first Test match in Bridgetown, a match which was attended by fewer than 10,000
West Indian cricket team in England in 1995 defeat in the Ashes series in Australia was considered a real disappointment, and ultimately led to the dismissal of Team Manager Keith Fletcher. Long-serving former captains Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting retired from International cricket after the tour, having had disappointing campaigns. The West Indians' home defeat by the Australians was a more closely fought affair, with Brian Lara (308 runs at 44) Curtly Ambrose (20 wickets at 21.55) and Courtney Walsh (13 at 19.84) all performing strongly against a touring team shorn of the injured Craig McDermott, but with strong back-up in the form of Glenn McGrath and Paul