Eighteen months after the 1984 Blackwash, West Indies repeated the 5-0 in the Caribbean, this time with the debutant Patrick Patterson making the Sabina Park pitch genuinely terrifying for England's batsmen.
England arrived under David Gower having been thrashed at home, hoping that two new selections — Wilf Slack and Tim Robinson — might shore up the top order.
The pre-Test one-day series saw Gatting struck on the nose by Marshall, an injury that became the symbolic image of the tour.
Viv Richards's first home series as captain — taking over from Clive Lloyd — produced an even more brutal sweep than the 1984 tour. The first Test at Sabina Park introduced Patterson, a 6'2" Jamaican who hurled the ball at extreme pace on a corrugated pitch. Mike Gatting was struck flush on the nose by a Marshall short ball in the one-day series and flew home with the seam of the ball reportedly embedded in his face. Graham Gooch top-scored with 51 in the first Test, but England were dismissed for 159 and 152. Richards himself crashed the fastest Test century in history at the Antigua Recreation Ground in the final Test, reaching three figures off 56 balls — a record that stood until Brendon McCullum in 2016. The 5-0 made it ten consecutive Test losses for England against West Indies stretching back to 1984, and confirmed that the Caribbean side were operating in a different competitive universe.
Patrick Patterson's debut at Sabina Park
Gatting's broken nose in the ODIs
Richards's 56-ball Test hundred at the Antigua Recreation Ground
Marshall and Garner sharing 56 wickets across the series
England dismissed for 159 in their first Test innings
First Test, Sabina Park
WI win by 10 wickets; Patterson debut
Second Test, Port of Spain
WI win by 7 wickets
Third Test, Bridgetown
WI win by an innings and 30
Fourth Test, Port of Spain
WI win by 10 wickets
Fifth Test, St John's
Richards 110 off 58 (100 in 56); WI win by 240 runs
“It was as quick as anything I have faced in my life.”
“Cricket is supposed to be played on bouncy pitches. We bowl fast. That is our game.”
Gower's captaincy did not survive the West Indies sequence and England spent the late 1980s in turmoil.
A more brutal sequel to 1984, played on faster pitches against a more frightening attack and watched by a generation that grew up in awe.
The two Blackwashes are still cited as the bookends of West Indies' peak. Richards's Antigua hundred remained the fastest in Tests for thirty years.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.