Crunch time for Hooper

The West Indies have three matches to at least put a little silver lining on what has been an especially dark tour of Sri Lanka, collectively and for captain Carl Hooper specifically.

They must beat both Sri Lanka tomorrow and Zimbabwe on Sunday in Kandy in their remaining qualifying round matches of the LG Abans triangular One-Day series and Sri Lanka again in the final in a day-night match at the Premadasa Stadium here on Wednesday to carry back anything but painful memories from another overseas campaign.

Contrary to earlier reports, victory in both weekend matches is mandatory to go through. Under the playing conditions, teams tied on points at the end are separated first by the results of their qualifying round matches against each other and then net run-rate.

In other words, even if the West Indies repeat their earlier triumph over Sri Lanka but lose again to Zimbabwe, it would be Zimbabwe for the final.

Sri Lanka are already through on the strength of the two bonus points earned from their convincing results against Zimbabwe.

The effect of such an outcome on Hooper personally is not hard to imagine. As he has repeatedly observed, he regarded the series of three Tests as the gauge that would measure where the team stood following the encouraging tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya four months earlier.

He has been at pains to condition the successes in Africa by referring always with respect to the quality of the opposition. Sri Lanka, stronger, more experienced and with home advantage, obviously offered a more realistic assessment.

What followed was another overseas disaster, the latest clean sweep by the opposition to follow those by Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in the last four years.

The submission to a Zimbabwe side without several of its major players in the first match of the triangular series was a further setback.

Tuesday night's hard-fought upset over Sri Lanka was a timely comeback that kept alive hopes of belated consolation.

It is an opportunity for Hooper to contribute more substantially than he has so far done as a player.

Only Wasim Akram and Steve Waugh of contemporary players have been in international cricket longer than his 14 years he made his Test debut against in Bombay on this very day in 1987 and few are blessed with his natural ability.

Yet his true potential has never been realised. Hints, against South Africa and Zimbabwe, that it finally would with the responsibility of captaincy on return from his self-imposed exile have proved an illusion here.

His Test series average of 27.83 and the mode of his dismissals in key innings were unsettling reminders of the underachievement of such a obviously talented cricketer.

The end of his innings against Sri Lanka on Tuesday typified the flawed judgement that has been his undoing so often over the years.

He was well set with 29 in the 41st over and was batting with Ramnaresh Sarwan who was also going comfortably in a stand of 58.

The total was 209 and Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka's key bowler, had just come back for his last three overs. One thing was clear: given the West Indies' lengthy tail, the captain's presence was crucial to ensure the total of around 270 that beckoned.

Instead, Hooper stepped forward to Muralitharan's third ball and chipped it high to long-off, as if he was giving prematch catching practice. The stroke was as improper as the example it set.

Within a couple of overs, Sarwan and Marlon Samuels followed suit and suddenly West Indies were battling to bat out their allocation as they eked out 41 from the last ten overs.

If the charge of a lack of commitment could once be made against Hooper, not any more. His comportment since his return has shown an appreciation of what the captaincy means but there hasn't been a corresponding responsibility in his performance.

For someone with his experience, he must know he has three matches left here to put things right.