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Former West Indies captain Carl Hooper didn’t mince his words on the ongoing captaincy debate during his appearance on the Mason and Guest radio programme Tuesday. Speaking with candour, the former middle order batter weighed up the merits of various potential leaders, while also casting a reflective eye on the legacy of former captain Kraigg Brathwaite, who recently stepped down after a five-year stint at the helm.

“This is a tough one. This is my point of view: The captain should always command his place in the side,” Hooper declared.

He was quick to point out that while many names are being bandied about—“I heard a lot of names being called—Athanaze” —the real question, he stressed, is whether a player can handle the pressure. “You go against Australia or whoever else is on after that, and let’s say he has a couple of low scores; is his name going to come under scrutiny? Maybe we should drop him.”

Citing examples, he recalled how “we had (Joshua) Da Silva grooming but he lost his place in Pakistan. So you got Tevin Imlach...”

For Hooper, the current crop of young players may be talented, yet the burden of captaincy demands much more than mere ability—it requires consistency and mental toughness, qualities he felt were yet to be proven, particularly in red-ball cricket.

Read more at Trinidad Express

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In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Logically sound....

Might as well

The flaw with Hooper's suggestion is it seems like Holder is trying to financially secure himself while he can and may not want to be committed to WI cricket that would be required if he is appointed captain.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Make this man Coach and Manager! Makes sense!

mediocrity loves mediocrity

Commonsense... very rare....posters drawing daggers...Run Franklyn..Run Hooper

In reply to Onionman0

firstly, its debatable whether holder commands a place in the team.....in fact it can be argued we've performed much better without him. every time we are under pressure, holder never comes to the party. Guyana last year, 260 runs to chase in three days against a 2nd string SA attack, holder made a duck, da silva and motie had to come in at 104-6. we need a batsman who we can rely on to be solid and make runs most of the times he enters the wicket....we have seales and joseph, two world class pacemen and two decent spinners as well. And Hooper's supposition is based on if imlach remains viable in the short to medium term future. I would certainly not be even thinking of grooming a player for captaincy whose career is two test matches old.......and who has not faced a world class pacer in international cricket and who will, if the squad remains the way it is, still have to come in at 50-100 for 5 or 6 wickets down

You all don't forget Hooper is Bajan .... that's where he got his fake knighthood

In reply to Kay

ent he did abdicate after they did call him fat...........and retired just before the 1999 world cup, where his experience was needed and missed. powell had never played in england, shiv and stuart williams had only played once and didn't have county contracts, while hooper was playing for kent up to the year before. self centered dude

I thought you're supposed to earn the position. What's this business about just giving someone the captaincy based on nothing whatsoever?

In reply to ray
well hooper would know..............he never earned the position of captaincy...cwi were desperate because lara didn't want it, adams and walsh had retired and gayle and sarwan were new. if there were other options, they would have never picked a guy to captain the team who had not played for the side in two years. hooper's last wi assignment prior to captaining the WI was the 99 australia series, where typically he did nothing in his four visits to the crease(imagine there were people in WI cricket cussing lara for making a 100 in 80 balls while hooper made 47 and 12, and received almost no criticism)

Holder is the safe albeit not ideal long term option he checks the boxes with experience and despite what people believe does command a place in this team when he is available no one yet can take his role as an all rounder.

Imlach has played two test matches no one knows if he is good enough with the bat at this level,

dasilva was dropped for a reason has it been resolved? can you trust all his runs in a weak wi tournament let him play as a batsman and then revisit that convo

All this might be mute point no one knows sammys mindset he might well spring a suprise out of left field and bravo might come into contention

In reply to velo

I doh know why allyuh feel sammy is some kinda cricketing Ziggy stardust...allyuh see how the dude followed an antiquated t20 script in the WC and could only beat two full members, one who was undercooked and would have cleaned us up still if it wasn't for that innings by rutherford

In reply to Jumpstart

What any player did is not a matter of discussion...
Franklyn or Hooper or else.....most agree that appointment of youngster, with very weak batting.....a perfect recipe to destroy his career...

Holder...as stopgap....is not bad idea....

Look at Louis....a great potential... with 4 centuries and couple fifties....few seasons back... superseded many to senior team....all and sundry wanted him for England tour.....now every posters, wants him out...

3 test vs Australia,2 vs India, 3 vs N.Z. .... with Silva,Imlach,Athanaze... whoever steps up...give him captaincy after 8 test.....

Why destroy a young player by burdening him against tough oppositions...away matches...last time West Indies won away match against India or N.Z.....nearly 3 decades....

In reply to Onionman0

i'd put roach before holder....at least roach is tactically sharp and has the respect of the team as a senior statesman, if we are talking about a stop gap measure. we all admit tactically holder was the worst since richardson and by not performing in pressure situations, thereby transferring said pressure to other bowlers or batsmen coming after him, i doubt he could be respected the way a captain is supposed to be respected in an WI dressing room

In reply to Jumpstart

Roach tenure as bowling mentor- player started 1st April....so CWI don't consider him as captain..

My take...
Holder as player can be sacrifice against these tough oppositions.....to build a core team , during these 8 test...

Captain Rolstan Chase

I agree with Hooper, appoint Holder as captain and if it's for 2 years then use that time to look at the future options.

Kevlon or Brandon King as options for vc.

The best option for captaincy is ...Sammy.
He will making decisions from the boundary line.
He can designate one of the 11 to spin the toss.

Mootie should be appointed captain!

What's this I hearing, Holder's career already destroyed so give him the captaincy?

In reply to TheTrail

Chase would be my choice as captain also ...but am not sure he played any 4-day red ball cricket
this year so unless there is a change in the process, he will not be on the radar for Test crcket.
But as one who has leadership experience and value as an allrounder he is to me ideal.

What tips it in his favour too in my view it that he is the best suited offspinner in the region
and playing against Australia makes him a valuable quantity.
He can make the team on merit. I don't think he has been given the respect or recognition that
he should from those in charge.

But we are talking about West Indies so you and me would be shocked if he is even named in a squad.
Well I am biased where he is concerned as I always like him as a player and has done ok in formats
that he played.

But we talking about West Indies cricket so you and me would be shocked to see him in a Test squad.

In reply to hubert

Chase played a few matches last year and this year, and he scored a ton in both years.

In reply to hubert

roston chase averages 26 in test cricket...and he doesn't even have the responsibility of wicketkeeping. And he is a part time offspinner, we do not need three offspinners when we have Warrican and Motie in the team, and Motie is extremely handy with the bat. Chase cannot make this side. unless he's replacing athanaze, who is very lucky to be in this team after averaging 25 without a ton to his name after 13 tests. And besides that, there are people like anderson and da silva who have done very well in this fc tournament who can rightfully demand that space before chase

In reply to Jumpstart

I respect your opinion. BUT mine still stands ok. Chase can bat(has test tons) bowls and fields well. DaSilva is a back stopper in his
main area. Has not won anything either as captain.. what does he ave with bat ?
I lije Motie but his bowling has not improved markedly. Put against Warrican, he cannot compare right now and who wants two left arm spinners in any attack.
His batting is ok but how many test 50s he got.

As an offie Chase has done better than Sinclair and he is a better batter. No comparison.
As for overall averages...not many WI batters are averaging 35.00 even as specialist.
Standards are mediocre so to throw in averages has become a weapon.

There are other attributes of a cricketer than averages in this low standard era. I would not consider DaSilva a specialist Test batsman
at this stage of his career.No problem in giving young Anderson a spot as he bats high in FC career so far and looks promising.He
has earned a Test debut and I have mooted this previously.

One thing we all should agree on is that we are in an era of Low standards
so it should not be weaponized in comparing candidates. Very few should
be playing Test cricket but it is what it is.

Chase may have the abilities, but he seems too introverted.

In reply to camos

True. He is not demonstrative ..just his make up.But he thinks the game in his own way.
Maybe that perconality trait will go well with the 'energetic' Sammy's.

In reply to hubert

he averages 26.....even in this low standard era that's remarkably poor.


sounding like emotion than any kind of discernable logic

Not a bad idea to give JH the captaincy. Without checking his stats - i think his avg is inline with the potential team mates. Holder Cappo and Dasilva VC.

In reply to Jumpstart

Well if you have the key to what is discernible logic ,good for you. Explain it us dunces. I waiting