Carl Hooper

Carl Llewelyn Hooper (born 15 December 1966) is a former West Indian cricket player and a former captain of Tests and ODIs. He was a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler, who came to prominence in the late 1980s in a side that included such players as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh and represented the West Indies over a 16-year international career.

For the English footballer, see Carl Hooper (footballer).

Carl Hooper

Personal information
Full name	Carl Llewelyn Hooper
Born	(1966-12-15) 15 December 1966 Georgetown, Guyana
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm off break
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	West Indies
Test debut (cap 190)	11 December 1987 v India
Last Test	3 November 2002 v India
ODI debut (cap 50)	18 March 1987 v New Zealand
Last ODI	4 March 2003 v Kenya
ODI shirt no.	4
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1983–1987	Demerara
1984–2003	Guyana
1992–1998	Kent
2003–2004	Lancashire
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODI FC LA Matches 102 227 339 457 Runs scored 5,762 5,761 23,034 13,357 Batting average 36.46 35.34 47.68 40.11 100s/50s 13/27 7/29 69/104 15/85 Top score 233 113* 236* 145 Balls bowled 13,794 9,573 46,464 19,718 Wickets 114 193 555 396 Bowling average 49.42 36.05 35.30 34.37 5 wickets in innings 4 0 18 1 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0 Best bowling 5/26 4/34 7/93 5/41 Catches/stumpings 115/– 120/– 375/– 242/–
Source: Cricinfo, 29 December 2008

International career

Rise in ranks

His highest innings score of 233 was made during a Test match against India in 2002 at Bourda, Guyana.[1] He has made 5,762 runs in his Test cricket career. Hooper represented Guyana at local first-class level, and played English county cricket for Kent and Lancashire. In 2003, Hooper became only the second player to have scored a century against all 18 county teams.[2]

Hooper holds the accolade of being the first cricketer in the world to have scored 5,000 runs, taken 100 wickets, held 100 catches and received 100 caps in both ODIs and Tests, a feat only matched since by Jacques Kallis.[3] In his autobiography, Steve Waugh writes that "quickness of feet and sweet yet brutally efficient stroke play were Hooper's trademarks."[4] He was routinely prematurely dismissed, however, after losses in concentration.

Shane Warne also thought very highly of Hooper's footwork and, in 2008, named him among the top 100 cricketers of his time, citing in particular his ability to disguise his dances down the track. Warne felt that determining when a batsman was going to give the charge was one of the most important things for a spinner, and that Hooper was the best at making it indeterminable. "During the 1995 series," he wrote, "this really nagged away at me, because I couldn't spot any of the usual clues even though I knew there had to be a sign that would give him away. On a number of occasions, I stopped at the point of delivery to see if he was giving anything away with his footwork. Most batsmen would be looking to get out of their ground at that point, whereas Hooper just stayed set. In the end, after watching him closely time after time, I managed to crack it. When he wanted to hit over the top, he just looked at me instead of tapping his crease as usual and looking down. Of course, my knowing what he was going to do did not always stop him from doing it."[5]

Playing style

Hooper was also a strong slip fielder, usually at second slip. He took numerous catches from the likes of Ambrose and Walsh. He is one of only three players to have scored centuries against 18 different English county sides.[6][7]

Late career

Hooper first announced his retirement three weeks before the 1999 Cricket World Cup but made a surprising comeback in 2001 and captained the West Indies team in 2003 Cricket World Cup. West Indies failed to progress to the second round after some miserable performances in the first round of tournament. Despite that, Hooper was retained in the side but this time, he pulled himself back and finally retired from the game as he wanted a youngster in the team instead of him.

Post-retirement

Hooper has lived in Australia since the late 1990s. Hooper completed level 3 coaching accreditation with Cricket Australia in 2010. Hooper has been appointed as batting coach of the Sagicor High Performance Centre to groom the talent pool of young West Indian batsmen.[8]

References

1. "1st Test: West Indies v India at Georgetown, Apr 11-15, 2002". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
2. Lynch, Steven (2 October 2006). "The fastest hundreds, and a Case history". Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 April 2007.
3. Cricinfo - Records - Test Matches - most matches and Most catches - One-day Internationals, retrieved 29 July 2007
4. Waugh, Steve (2005). Steve Waugh: Out of my comfort zone - the autobiography. Victoria: Penguin Group (Australia). p. 346. ISBN 0-670-04198-X.
5. Warne, Shane. "Shane Warne's Century: Ranatunga looked like he had swallowed a sheep." The Times, 27 September 2008.
6. "Centuries Against Most Counties". CricketArchive. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
7. "Carl Hooper". BBC Sport. 7 January 2003. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
8. "Carl Hooper to groom young West Indian batsmen". MSN India. 28 May 2011. Archived from the original on 25 June 2011.

External links

Carl Hooper at ESPNcricinfo

Preceded by Jimmy Adams	West Indies Test cricket captains 2000/01–2002/03	Succeeded by Ridley Jacobs