Hooper's comeback highlights Busta Cup's first week

Carl Hooper, Stuart Williams, Rajindra Dhanraj, Dinanath Ramnarine, Corey Collymore, Robert Samuels, Nehemiah Perry.

It sounds like a Who's Who of West Indian Test rejects over the past few years, but it's actually a list of the best performers in the first round of the 2001 Busta Cup which concluded yesterday.

The West Indian regional competition has a two-layered structure to it this year. Eight teams are taking part, but only six can win the Busta Cup. The controversial inclusion of England 'A' has led to the creation of a Busta International Shield series, including the usual six regional sides plus England A and a West Indies 'B' concoction led by 38 year-old Richie Richardson - whose appointment has itself been a cause for conjecture.

Four games were played in West Indies first-class competition this weekend, including England A's win over WI-B. Busta Cup winners were Jamaica and the Leeward Islands, with Barbados and Guyana playing out a draw.

Carl Hooper's sudden retirement from international cricket in the middle of the 1999 one-day series against Australia is, in his eyes at least, now finished, the 34 year-old all-rounder declaring his availability to play for the West Indies again. Whether the selectors consider him the answer for a team just beaten 0-5 in Australia is another matter. Nevertheless, he showed this week at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, that the ability is still present.

Captaining the Guyana team against Barbados, Hooper made his highest score for the South American nation, 159, as Guyana made 436 in reply to the home team's 422. Hooper batted 447 minutes, faced 314 balls and hit seventeen fours and a six.

Best bowler for Guyana in the Barbados innings was... Carl Llewellyn Hooper. He bowled fifty overs to take 4/88 in the Barbados first innings, which saw ex-West Indian players Roland Holder and Adrian Griffith score 117 and 77 respectively.

Barbados opening bowler Corey Collymore took 6/109 from 45 overs, including the wicket of Hooper, when it was Guyana's turn to bat. Collymore played one Test against Australia in 1999 before back trouble forced him to remodel his bowling action.

Barbados made 5/116 in their second innings before the match was brought to a close, Guyana claiming six competition points to Barbados' three.

Thirty-one year-old Stuart Williams, who played the last of his 28 Tests for the West Indies at Port Elizabeth in December 1998, was the star in the Leewards' 183-run victory over Trinidad & Tobago at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a- Pierre. Williams scored 160 in the Leewards' first innings of 371, and dominated proceedings in the second, making 114 out of 220. Leg-spinner Rajindra Dhanraj, who played the last of his four Tests in 1995-96, took 6/57 in the Leewards second innings.

The bowling star for Trinidad in Leewards' first innings was Dhanraj's legspin team-mate, Dinanath Ramnarine, who took 5/107 from 35 overs. Twenty-five year-old Ramnarine played the last of his three Tests against New Zealand in December 1999 are coming back from a lengthy absence due to shoulder injury.

Apart from Williams, however, it was Antiguan pace bowler Ricky Christopher who had the biggest impact on this game, taking 5/61 and 4/49 for the Leewards. Trinidad & Tobago had the imposing task of scoring 436 runs in their second innings if they were to win - they were all out for 252.

Jamaica scampered to a three-wicket win over the Windward Islands at Sabina Park, Kingston yesterday. In a low-scoring game, Jamaica lost seven wickets chasing their second-innings target of 183. They appeared down and out at 49 for 6 when Robert Samuels (69*) and Nehemiah Perry (59) put on 132 for the seventh wicket, Perry being out stumped just two runs short of victory.

Thirty-two year-old Perry, who played the the last of his four Test matches against New Zealand a year ago, was named man-of-the-match after also taking 4/39 in the Windwards' second innings of 189. The best bowling performance of the match came from Windward Islands' Shane Shillingford, who took 7/66 in a Jamaican first innings of 175. Leon Garrick (51) and Chris Gayle (55) shared a 101-run opening stand before Shillingford ripped through the remainder of the Jamaican batting.