The West Indies will be hosts to South Africa and Pakistan in the 2005 Home Series which starts next March. West Indies will play four Tests and five One-Day Internationals against South Africa and two Tests and three One-Day Internationals against Pakistan.

The International season begins with the arrival of South Africa on March 25 for nearly a two-month long tour, which ends on May 16. Pakistan arrive on May 8 and depart the Caribbean on June 8.

There will be no matches played in Grenada in 2005 due to the destruction of facilities caused by Hurricane Ivan last month.

The planned itinerary for the 2005 Home Series is as follows:

South Africa to the West Indies - March 25th to May 16th, 2005.

South Africa arrives in Guyana, March 25th

1st Test - March 31st to April 4th - Guyana

2nd Test - April 8th to 12th - Trinidad

vs UWI Vice Chancellor’s X1 - April 16th - 17th - Trinidad

3rd Test - April 21st to 25th - Barbados

4th Test - April 29th to May 3rd - Antigua

Practice 1-day - May 5th - Jamaica

1st ODI - May 7th - Jamaica

2nd ODI - May 8th - Jamaica

3rd ODI - May 11th - Barbados

4th ODI - May 14th - Trinidad

5th ODI - May 15th - Trinidad

South Africa Depart - May 16th - Trinidad

Pakistan to the West Indies - May 8th to June 8th, 2005

Pakistan arrive - May 8th - Antigua

vs Carib Beer Series X1 - May 11th - 13th - Antigua

Practice 1-day - May 15th - Antigua

1st ODI - May 18th - St Vincent

2nd ODI - May 21st - St Lucia

3rd ODI - May 22nd - St Lucia

1st Test - May 26th to 30th - Barbados

2nd Test - June 3rd to 7th - Jamaica

Pakistan Depart - June 8th - Jamaica

Champions Trophy final, The Oval:

West Indies 218-8 (48.5 overs) beat England 217 all out (49.4 overs) by two wickets

West Indies clinched the Champions Trophy with a thrilling two-wicket victory over England at a chilly Oval on September 25.

England were bowled out for just 217 in bowler-friendly conditions, despite Marcus Trescothick’s 104. But they, in turn, reduced West Indies to 147-8 before Ian Bradshaw and Courtney Browne fought back with a West Indies record ninth wicket stand of 71.

In rapidly deteriorating light, Bradshaw hit 35 and Browne 34 to win with seven balls left. Earlier Shivnarine Chanderpaul kept West Indies in competition with a brilliant 47.

Browne and Bradshaw bettered West Indies’ highest ever for the ninth wicket, topping a stand of 63 by Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall against Australia in 1985.

England’s total appeared below par despite the seamer-friendly batting conditions as they were bundled out with two balls remaining. Medium-pacer Wavell Hinds was the surprise pick of the Caribbean bowlers with a career-best of 3-34, bowling unchanged through the middle of the innings.

Score summary for the SCA 50 Over Finals held on Saturday September 25th 2004

PREMIER DIVISION: WINNER - COSMOS SPORTS CLUB: Cosmos 222 Runs /7wkts

MVP: Richard Driffield - 53 runs; Bowling: 8 overs/38 Runs/2 wkts

Surrendra Seeraj 52 runs

Shaun Deokanandan 36 runs,

Vic Persaud: 7.1 overs/41 Runs/3 wkts.

SCARBOROUGH MUSLIMS CC

167 Runs/10 wkts

MVP: Miraj Patel - 10 overs/39 runs/4 wkts.

Hat Trick - Altaf Patel - 3 ovs/ 19 runs/3 wkts

Samad Shaikh - 23 runs

Moshin Mulla - 33 runs;

Arif Talati - 51 runs.

FIRST DIVISION: WINNER - BAWA ELEVEN: BAWA ELEVEN CC: 114 runs/2 wkts

MVP - Ibrahim Patel: 10 overs/21 runs/4 wkts

Yasin Patel - 51 runs*,

Ilyas Modhi - 22 runs,

Gulam Patel - 26 runs

Salim Lalan - 9 overs/23 Runs/ 3 wkts

TADKESHWAR CC: 112 Runs/10 wkts

MVP - Suhel Ingar - 46 runs

Asif Masood - 17 runs.

SECOND DIVISION: WINNER - LIONHEARTS: LION HEARTS: 236 runs/7 wkts

MVP - Fabian Pierre - 111 Runs;

Bowling: 7 overs/40 runs/3 wkts

Norman Stewart - 75 runs

Rohan Jagasar - 7 overs/19 runs/3 wkts KAPLETHA/PANOLI B: 136 runs/10 wkts

MVP - Abdullah Patel - 37 runs; 9 overs/35 runs/3 wkts

Owais Bokdi - 31 runs

Limbada Imran - 20 runs