'Stick With Jimmy'

Keep Jimmy Adams as captain, drop Sherwin Campbell as vice-captain, and forget about bringing back Carl Hooper.

That's what Julian Hunte, a former vice-president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), would do if the choices were left to him to get the rebuilding process under way after the debacle in Australia.

"The problems facing the West Indies team, the recent defeats at the hands of Australia in the Tests and the One-Day Internationals, are not the fault of Adams, the captain," said Hunte, St. Lucia's Ambassador at the United Nations.

"I don't think he can be held responsible for what is taking place and I would prefer to continue with him rather than change captains at this particular point in time," he said.

"The question I would ask is change to whom?"

How about bringing back Hooper into the side and making him captain as some in the region have suggested?

Hunte, who quit the vice-presidency of the WICB when he became ambassador about two years ago, rejected Hooper as a candidate for a Test place ever.

"I think it would be a disaster for us to go back to Hooper, a real disaster," he said.

"It would be a retrograde step to even think of integrating Carl Hooper back into the West Indies team."

Hunte described Hooper as a figure "from the past" who shouldn't be resurrected.

"His record shows that," he argued. "There is no future for West Indies with Hooper. What are you going to do with him? I don't think he qualifies to play for the West Indies."

Hooper recently returned to the West Indies and is leading Guyana in the Busta tournament. He scored a century in his first match against Barbados at Kensington Oval.

Next candidate for the captaincy is seen as Ridley Jacobs, the wicketkeeper from Antigua.

Hunte wouldn't express an opinion saying "I don't know very much about" him when it came to leading a side.

"My own personal preference is to retain Jimmy Adams for a further period, so that at least if we are going to further blood the team with younger players he will be there to give them the kind of experience that is required at this time," he said.

"I haven't seen any manager's reports on his role and performance on the field but certainly what we see coming out of these matches (in Australia) I don't know that you can blame him for the poor performances of our batsmen or the lack of penetration of our bowlers. I just don't think there is any justification in changing him right now."

Instead of changing captains, Hunte feels what's required is a detailed examination of the structure and organisation of West Indies cricket and a programme to try to bring more players "through the system" cricketers with the techniques that would make them good international competitors.

One change he would definitely make is removing Campbell as vicecaptain because he considers that as a player he isn't reliable and his batting techniques are suspect.

What the West Indies needs now is a professional league that would keep our players at home, boost the standard of play and put the game in the region back into a high competitive level, Hunte contends.

"We must have a tournament to keep our players in the Caribbean and a professional league is the way to go," he suggested.