Date-stamped : 15 Dec93 - 19:40 Summary of the 1990 Eng Season/Eng Tests 1990: The Year of The Unexpected (Compiled by Chris Dighton, The Sunday Times, 23 Dec 90) JANUARY 28th. DAVID GOWER, who had lost the England captaincy and his Test place, left Leicestershire after 15 years to join Hampshire. He also broke up with his fiancee, Vicky Stewart. FEBRUARY 13th. THE unofficial England tour of South Africa was cut short. Mike Gatting's rebels had been plagued by demonstrators and, in the week when Nelson Mandela was released from prison, opposition to the tour reached a crescendo. The second leg of the tour a year later was also scrapped. 24th. ENGLAND's first win against the West Indies in 29 Tests was set up by Angus Fraser, who took five for 28 as West Indies were bowled out for 164 in the first Test in Kingston, Jamaica. Allan Lamb (132) and Robin Smith (57) gave England a lead of 200, and the West Indies never got back in the match. MARCH 23rd. ENGLAND had their hopes of victory dashed by bad weather and the go-slow tactics in Port-of-Spain. Left to score 151 for victory, England's progress was interrupted when the West Indies bowled only 11 balls in 22 minutes. England had to settle for a draw. 29th. DAVID GOWER, in the West Indies to cover the Test Series for The Times, put away his pen and played for England against Barbados. APRIL 5th. VIV RICHARDS led a West Indian recovery at Bridgetown, Barbados, when he hit 70 in his team's 227 for four on the first day of the fourth Test. With Gooch out with a broken hand, the turning point had been reached and the West Indies won the last two Tests and the series, 2-1. MAY 7th. NEIL FAIRBROTHER scored 366 as Lancashire made 863, the best county score this century, in reply to Surrey's 707 for 9 (Ian Greig got 291). Lancashire had hoped to become the first county to top 1,000 runs in an innings, but lost their last four wickets for 19 in a match which produced 1,650 runs. Fairbrother's innings was a pointer to a summer when willow dominated leather. 25th. CLIVE LLOYD was sacked as manager of the West Indies, to be replaced by Lance Gibbs. JUNE 4th. THE first Test began at Trent Bridge with New Zealand winning the toss. England held the upper hand but bad weather prevented a result. 26th. GRAHAM GOOCH was reappointed England captain for the second series of the summer against India. At Lord's, the second Test against New Zealand was drawn. JULY 5th. THE third and final Test of the series against New Zealand saw England lose the toss yet make a flying start. On a rain- affected day they made 191 for one, with Gooch unbeaten on 95 and Atherton out for 82. Gooch passed 5,000 runs in Test cricket and went on to score a century as England won the match and the series. 14th. WORCESTERSHIRE failed again in a Lord's final as Lancashire destroyed them to win the B&H Cup by 69 runs. It had all started promisingly for Worcestershire when they won the toss and restricted Lancashire to 241, but they were undone by some tight Lancashire bowling with Akram and Watkinson picking up 3 wickets each. It was Worcestershire's sixth flop in a final. 26th. IN THE first Test at Lord's between England and India, the visitors won the toss and put England in to bat. In under 3 hours Gooch and Lamb put on 218, a record for the third wicket against India, and they became the first and second men to score four Test centuries at Lord's. Gooch went on to make 333 - the sixth highest Test score, the 12th Test 300, a record score by a Test captain and the highest first-class Test score at Lord's. He scored a century in the second innings and England won by 247 runs. AUGUST 9th. GRAHAM GOOCH scored his third Test century in three innings when he took 116 off India at Old Trafford. Mike Atherton scored 131 on his Test debut on his own ground. England made 322 for three by the close of play. Despite England's strong position, the Test ended in a draw. 21st. DERBYSHIRE were docked 25 county championship points for having an unacceptable pitch for their game against Middlesex at Derby. This came on the day they inflicted the first defeat of the summer on Middlesex, for which they gained 22 points. Essex continued their climb, demolishing Surrey by 283 runs, and were 2 points behind Middlesex with one game in hand. 23rd. FOR the first time in the series India batted first, after winning the toss at the Oval. They made the most of it, scoring 606, with Shastri hitting an unbeaten 136. For the first time in the series England struggled, without ever facing a serious threat of defeat. The draw gave england their second series win of the summer. SEPTEMBER 1st. LANCASHIRE became the first county to win both the B&H Cup and NatWest trophy in the same season when they destroyed Northamptonshire in the NatWest final at Lord's. Philip DeFreitas's 5-26 ripped the heart out of the Northants batting and then 81 from Neil Fairbrother led Lancashire to a seven- wicket win. 6th. ENGLAND's 16-strong party for Australia under Graham Gooch included two newcomers, the Surrey bowler Martin Bricknell, and the Middlesex spinner Phil Tufnell. 10th. ESSEX, racing Middlesex for the county championship, lost by 276 runs to Northamptonshire while Middlesex defeated Nottinghamshire by 10 wickets to take a 14-point lead. 12th. GRAHAM GOOCH broke his thumb in two places, finishing his season 254 runs short of 3,000 runs, his average over 100. 20th. MIDDLESEX won the county championship, destroying Sussex, the bottom club, inside three days. OCTOBER 23rd. GRAHAM GOOCH cut his finger during practice. The injury turned septic and required an operation, and Gooch was unable to play for several weeks. His absence coincided with a collapse in England's fortunes. NOVEMBER 22nd. IN THE first Test of the Ashes series, England, minus Graham Gooch, immediately hit trouble and were all out for 194. England hit back, skittling the Australians for 152, before collapsing again to 114 all out. Australia won inside three days. DECEMBER 6th. DURHAM were granted first-class status from 1992, bringing the number of first-class counties to 18. Thanks to Dan Ruparel on r.s.c. Contributed by probal (probal@*rutgers.edu)