Barrington was chosen to manage the forthcoming tour of Pakistan in the first season of the WSC, both sides losing players as a result. Phil Edmonds and Paul Downton were taken on the tour, Downton on Barrington's advice after playing only a few county games. Barrington gave Edmonds long practise sessions in the nets to improve his spin bowling. The team arrived in the wake of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's military coup displacing Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the country was in a state of high tension and disorder. In the First Test 40,000 Bhutto supporters rioted at the ground and the teams took refuge in their dressing rooms as the army restored order. The TCCB gave Barrington permission to cancel the tour if he saw fit. Realising this the players urged him to let them go home for Christmas.