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In reply to Jumpstart

he did drap yuh rass?

In reply to doosra

drop who?

In reply to doosra


BTW Bassarath says he has unfinished busines and he is going up for Prez of TTCB for a 5th term...mekking some people jump

The Union-Busting Regime robbed Gayle definitely and Dwayne Bravo very more than likely of also achieving those double feats. In fact Gayle was oh so near. Let's hope Jason Holder can so do. He is way off on his ODI runs though

In reply to Jumpstart

Sir Carl and Cuddy are my favourite West Indian cricketers of all time.

In reply to doosra

He deserve a drop, he was another ordinary leggie just like another fake name Mahabir…

In reply to WestDem

If it is he, he was quite talented, second only to Dhanraj- are you drinking again? You want some licks, no?

I am convinced that all-rounder was a blight… no wonder she tapped him up… the bowler should have been bowling
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In reply to culpepperboy

Was arguably the most naturally gifted batsman to ever put on a WI shirt. Even more talented than Lara, Sobers and Viv. Its ridiculous that he averages 36. My issue with Carl is that he displayed a total lack of maturity. When he and Lara were at the crease, he would try to go toe to toe with Lara, which can't work. You cannot have two persons attacking the bowling at both ends. The was a match in SA, either Port Elizabeth ir Durban.....and lara was attacking the bowling, had already hit Allan Donald for two sixes and a four. Hooper is at the other end, facing Kallis who while not slow was slower than Donald, slashes at the widest delivery you could imagine, and is caught in the slips. Now if tg]hat was a one off fine, but that was the pattern of his career. People talk about lara in the 90s, but up to 1998, lara averaged close to 60. And even after SA, his average only fell into the early 50s. Hooper's lack of consistency caused us to lose a lot of matches

In reply to Jumpstart

Thanks for sharing this old article I recalled reading it back then but its worth a second read.

I agree with the writer: Hooper is WI most underachieved batsman of all time. I imagined his handlers /coaches were very frustrated as they never broke the code on how to get into his head to understand what held him back.

In 2018 (?) Warne and Tendulkar organized a "masters" tournament in the USA- all the very top stars of the 90's were there- Lara, Wasim, Ambrose, Walsh et all. Hooper was there too.

I went to the Mets stadium too see the exhibition. It was wonderful. I kept my bino on WI players mainly. I could see all the WI players mingling, laughing, talking but Carl Hooper was simply alone, hardly talking, hardly laughing with his fellow WI players and facial expression seemed so distant.

Sir Carl, the Golden One - 5000, 100, 100.

Sir Carl might've done just fine if it weren't for the back-stabbing from his peer(s).

In reply to Drapsey

i suppose that the difference between Hooper and the current crop of WI batsmen who cannot even reach a test average of 36 is that we had higher expectations of him. As matters stand, we would now be happy if 1-6 on the sheet did have a 36 average, compared to olden days when such players would not even have made the test team.

In reply to Jumpstart

I think that your analysis is a bit harsh.
Granted, between 1987 and 1993 he was extremely disappointing. However from that time up until his retirement he averaged well over 40 each year. Furthermore his average as captain was even more impressive. So your argument about his lack of maturity based on an incident in South Africa in my opinion is erroneous.

Moreover while Lara's average decreased later in his career, Hooper's actually increased.

In reply to culpepperboy

Whilst you might be correct when one looks at it dispassionately, it is entirely understandable given the ability of Carl Hooper for cricket fans to be disappointed in him to the point of utter frustration.
Hooper from 1993 to the end of his test career:
68 tests,115 innings,11 not outs 4,271 runs average 41.07 with 10 centuries and 20 half-centuries.
Someone with such a career would be deemed a good test batsman but clearly Hooper should have averaged 50.

Another Guyanese who somewhat fits into category of not fulfilling his true talent is indeed Rohan Kanhai who ended up with a test average of 47.He should have averaged 55!!!!

In reply to culpepperboy
A decrease to 50+ generally trumps an increase to 36. One generally promised, one generally delivered. Together, the could have been a re-creation of the heyday of the 3 Ws

In reply to Dukes

I have heard 2 contrasting bits on this matter:

1. that Babu was known for getting out when he needed not to

2. that Babu was not about averages: that was not his role - his role was to dominate, take things apart, set the scene

to get to 55 he needed to score 2 more 4s for each innings he got out HAHAHAHAHA

In reply to Dukes

He did better as captain towards the end of his career

but clearly he was at least 10 points short of where he ended - a disappointment

didn't it come out that carl was S.A.D?

In reply to doosra

What I have noticed, is that matches where Lara didn't make any runs, Carl made runs...like in Pakistan 1997 when lara was campaigning for the captaincy. And Australia the previous year. It tells me that Hooper was competing with Brian. Now, this does not mean that Lara was not competing as well, but he was widely redmgarded as the team's talisman and therefore the urge to compete would not have been as strong. Where I say Hooper was immature was not yielding to playing a holding innings. The few large partnerships lara and hooper have had is where one is holding the innings(almost always Hooper) and one is the attacker. In the 2003 CWC vs SA, Hooper scored an excellent 50 and lara scored a magnificent hundred and got us to a big total with the help of the major pyrotechnics at the end from Sarwan and Powell
Its the exact opposite of the partnerships Lara had with Chanders and Sarwan.

In reply to WestDem
If Ramnarine was an ordinary leggie then Roger Harper was the shittiest offb spinner that ever played test cricket.Twenty five tests and 45 wickets,go siddung pon de Seawarl and chat shit now.

In reply to granite
Ramnarine was probably a better leggie than even Bishoo but since we are not a region that produces top class spinners, especially wrist spinners, that does not really say much.

In reply to granite

It is difficult to not come to the conclusion that the above post was tongue in cheek.

However just to engage the feeble minded who read this board here is a more complete appraisal of Roger Harper's off-spin exploits in test cricket.JUST THE FACTS

602.3 Overs, 183 Maidens, 1291 Runs, 46 Wickets, 28.07 Average, 1-5 wkt innings,Never had figures of 0-100, Economy rate 2.14, Strike rate 78.59.