King wins more praise

James Hopes has become the second young talent of Australian cricket to praise Bennett King, who will coach West Indies in the three-Test series starting at Brisbane next week. Shane Watson raved this week about King's work that helped rebuild his game following stress fractures, and Hopes, who made his one-day international debut this year, has also credited him with reviving his fortunes.

King, the former Queensland coach, told Hopes he would need to lift his effort to be a successful player and the chat pushed him towards the ING Cup Player of the Year award last summer and into the national team. "Kingy really showed me what was required to make the next step and put it down plain in front of me what I needed to do if I wanted to make it as a cricketer," Hopes told The Australian.

"My results over the past 18 months have been long overdue from a personal viewpoint. Most of it can probably be put down to the fact it took me quite a while to realise that as an allrounder I couldn't afford to let any part of my game slip. I couldn't cut corners."

Hopes will be on the opposite side to King tomorrow when he starts the four-day tour match for Queensland at Allan Border Field. West Indies are currently ranked third-last on the ICC Test table, but Hopes said King was the ideal man to lift the side. "Bennett is among the best coaches in the world," he said. "They have some world-class players and some remarkable talent coming through, it's just a case of being patient. They've had stability problems in the side for the past few years, but I couldn't think of a better person to have."

Queensland and West Indies had hoped to field 12 players for the match but Cricket Australia over-ruled the request that would have affected the game's status as first-class. The opening Test begins at the Gabba on November 3.