Open arms for prodigal son
So the selectors and the directors have let bygones be bygones and there were plenty of bygones and handed the responsibility of the most demanding job in West Indian sport to Carl Hooper
Tony Cozier
04-Mar-2001
So the selectors and the directors have let bygones be bygones and
there were plenty of bygones and handed the responsibility of the
most demanding job in West Indian sport to Carl Hooper.
In a cricketing version of the biblical story of the prodigal son,
they have forgiven the indiscretions of the past and have not only
welcomed Hooper back to the fold, aged 34 and 14 years after they
first picked him, but given him their highest post. The thoughts can
only be surmised of those who stuck to the cause while Hooper was away
and who developed an unwavering loyalty to Jimmy Adams, who has had to
make way after a couple of disastrous series, both personally and for
the team.
Gaining the trust and the loyalty of his players will be the new
captain's most urgent, if not most difficult, task. No leader can
effectively function without them, especially one at the helm of a
sided lacking self-belief. Those who nominated and voted for him were
clearly convinced by his deeds of the past couple of months that the
Carl Hooper of 2001 is not the Carl Hooper who left them scrambling
for a late replacement for the 1999 World Cup when he abruptly
announced his retirement three weeks before the tournament.
They were obviously confident that their man is now not the one who
never seemed comfortable with the responsibility of leadership or the
methods of administrators.
If the teenaged Hooper gave up the Guyana Under-19 captaincy to
concentrate on his batting and Hooper the county pro stepped down
after losing his one and only match at the helm of Kent, in 1996, they
have apparently seen in Hooper, the 2001 Guyana skipper, a fit,
enthusiatic and inspirational leader. There are those who may remember
that when he was previously appointed West Indies captain, to the Hong
King Sixes tournament in 1997, he refused to play after a row with the
organisers that had nothing to do with the West Indies Cricket Board
(WICB).
But that was in the past, as was the 1995 tour of England when he was
fined for leaving the team without permission and 1998 when he defied
the instructions of manager Wes Hall and coach Malcolm Marshall to
play for Guyana against the touring Englishmen.
His averages after 80 Tests of 33.76 as middle order batsman and 47.01
as off-spin bowler are patently well below the potential of a hugely
talented cricketer.
The only way for him to have rebooted his Test career was to forcibly
demonstrate a new consistency and he has done that several times over
in the Busta Cup. Now he has to transfer that form to the Test arena
against strong opponents against whom he could only average 23.7 with
the bat and 46.5 with the ball the last time they met. If he can, it
will be an enormous boost to his own position but more especially to a
batting team that has frequently collapsed for bingo number scores.
Given the high expectations of those to whom Hooper has always been
nothing less than a cricketing god and the misgivings of others who
see him as an ordinary mortal with feet of clay, the pressure will be
intense.
He follows Courtney Walsh, Brian Lara and Adams as the fourth captain
in five years but the chopping and changing has made no difference to
the West Indies' dismal overseas record of 18 defeats in their last 20
Tests.
The account is different at home where they have lost only one series
in the past 27 years to Mark Taylor's Australians in 1995. So Hooper
starts with a plus, especially as his first Test is in his hometown,
Georgetown. He needs whatever help he can against opponents as tough
as they come, who also carry the psychological advantage of a 5-0
whitewash in the previous series between the teams in South Africa two
years ago.
If the West Indies falter under him, he will find little sympathy from
either fans or selectors. As fate would have it, his opposing captain
in the Shield final in Kingston yesterday was Adams who was moved to
publicly plead with fans not to boo him.
Carl has come back and represented his country with distinction, Adams
said. Due respect should be given to him as a player and as opposing
captain.
It is the type of burden the captain of the West Indies cricket team
has to bear. The old Hooper often baulked as such challenges. The
latest evidence is that the new Hooper is made of sterner stuff. We
hope so.