Surrey and Sussex, but they were much closer to the title this time. It was argued that they would have won it but for frequent disruption of their home matches by the bad weather, a factor which had far less impact on their southern rivals. Lancashire were again well served by Statham and Tattersall but now with sterling support from the left arm spinner Bob Berry and there was a considerable improvement in the team's batting performances. Before the Oval Test, MCC had named a nucleus of ten players for their forthcoming tour of the West Indies. This included Trueman but not Statham. During the Test match, on the Monday morning, the selectors announced the names of five more tourists and Statham was among these. Later the same day, he took five for 14 against Glamorgan at Old Trafford. 1953–54 in the West Indies After the euphoria of regaining the Ashes, the winter tour of West Indies began disastrously for England who lost the first two Tests but then recovered to draw the series 2–2 with one match drawn. The series was a personal triumph for Statham who established himself as a world-class bowler. He headed the Test averages with 16 wickets at 28.75, this on pitches widely acknowledged as being favourable to the batsmen. England's recovery hinged on his dramatic opening spell of three wickets for ten runs in the Third Test at Georgetown when he dismissed Frank Worrell, Jeff Stollmeyer and Clyde Walcott. Statham and Trueman were both selected for the first Test against West Indies at Sabina Park in Jamaica, the first time they bowled in tandem. Although Statham took six wickets in the match, including four for 90 in the first innings, England as a team did not play well and lost the match by 140 runs. West Indies won the second Test at Bridgetown by 181 runs, Statham taking four wickets. It was mainly because of his dramatic opening spell at Georgetown, three wickets for ten runs reducing West Indies to 16 for three, that they had to follow on and England won by nine wickets, despite a notorious crowd riot involving bottle throwing. This spell was described by commentator E. W. Swanton as the best performance by an England fast bowler since the war, especially so considering the quality of the batsmen and the pitch. Statham's tour ended on the first morning of the