Carl Hooper - The Great Enigma/ Pretender

Carl Hooper became the ninth West Indian to pass 5,000 runs in Test cricket on Saturday, joining a list that includes the likes of Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd and of course, Viv Richards, as well as his contemporary Brian Lara.

Yet Hooper averages just 35 and for the moment he remains one of the biggest enigmas in the world of cricket.

Most people would agree that Hooper's batting style is extremely graceful and at times he makes the game look incredibly easy.

However, he retains a penchant for getting out at the most inappropriate times to the most inappropriate bowlers.

The medium pace of Steve Waugh has claimed his wicket the more times in Test cricket than any bowler other than Merv Hughes.

"For me he is the gross under-achiever of West Indies cricket," says Colin Croft, a member of Clive Lloyd's great side of the late 70s and early 80s. "He has a tremendous style and is aesthetically pleasing but he is nowhere near productive enough."

"When he had played about 75 Tests, Lara had played about 20 fewer, but had scored 2,000 more runs."

Hooper has enjoyed a lengthy run in the side, broken only by himself when he retired in 1999, before re-emerging last year.

"He's played the amount of Test cricket because of the mediocrity of West Indies cricket in the 1990s," says Croft. "When you have guys like Phil Simmons averaging in the 20s then Hooper in the mid to low 30s is going to look good."

Because of this, Croft feels that Hooper is unlikely to be regarded in the same light as the other West Indian greats on the runs list. "You can't compare him with the likes of Rohan Kanhai. He's played far much more cricket without being as productive."

Croft did support Hooper's election to the captaincy, although he now feels that his fellow Guyanese has been hamstrung by a lack of talent in the West Indies ranks. "I was hoping that he could be moving into maturity and ready to take on a new mantle."

However, although Hooper's personal form has improved, the team's losing ways have continued.

"He just hasn't had the tools. There is a lot of mediocrity around," said Croft. "Daren Ganga is averaging just 18 after 15 Tests. Kumar Sangakkarra of Sri Lanka has already scored two centuries in that time whilst Ganga has only managed one fifty."

For now Hooper has to battle on with what he has.

With the Caribbean conveyor belt of talent in need of repair it will be down to Hooper to carry his young charges for some time yet.

If he can do this and form a team around the likes of Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan then maybe his legacy can be something more than the "gross underachiever".