Not even Sachin Tendulkar or me came close to Ca

Not even Sachin Tendulkar or me came close to Carl Hooper's talent: Brian Lara (AFP Photo)
West Indies great Brian Lara has hailed Carl Hooper's exceptional cricketing talent, claiming it surpassed even Sachin Tendulkar's. Lara also mentions Hooper's strong influence on West Indies cricket and his potential as a captain.
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I no how to post a link, but right now me na hable, so if any of alyuh kind person want to do it, please go for it Thanks

In reply to tops

It’s in the book and these big stagers can go buy a copy - there’s your link

In reply to Halliwell-(

In reply to tops

True true

It takes more than talent, which every human has.
I hope Hooper's failure will be an example to teach youngsters about discipline.
Barbadians knighted Hooper, not because he was outscoring the world's best batsmen, but because of his style.
I was never a fan and his treatment of the young antigun bowler will forever be in my memory of him.

In reply to openning

Jeezas. If was a baje Lara said that about you would be pompasettin all over de board talkin bout greatest dis and dat.

Instead……you just had to try and tear down de man

Shows how much Lara knows about talent.

In reply to imusic
My Antiguan brother was so mad with Richie Richardson who was at a cricket conference in TO, that he walked out of the room and called me, his first words were RR knows f'all about talent, Richie said Pow Pow is the best batsman in the region.
We have been discussing Pow Pow for some time here, but none of us rated him.
Ex-players are not gods.

In reply to openning

Dude, Lara and Tendy are not just ordinary ex-players like Richardson, they are probably the closest you will get to God where batting is concerned.....

Talent is but one requirement for greatness. There is passion, mental toughness, and heart. Some batters (since we are referencing Hooper) have an abundance of one of the requirements; when it is talent, it is more obvious and admired than passion, mental toughness, and heart. Lara and Tendulkar had all the requirements and had them in spades.

In sports, I have seen many "could have been greats":

CRICKET - Lawrence Rowe, Samuel Haye, and Fin. Forbes, Marlon Samuels.
BASKETBALL - Earl Manigualt.
TRACK - Michael Fray

I am sure others here could add to the list.

In reply to Kay
Are you suggesting that great players can predict others' futures? I reserve this kind of thinking for my lord Jesus Christ, not for mankind.
Lara played with Hooper, he knew how good he was, I can only assume that as far as Lara could go in describing Hooper's ability.

In reply to JoeGrine



Can't agree more with you....
Hooper was absolutely marvellous.....1986 World Cup, his use of feet against spinners.... elegant against fast bowlers...he himself has said ....the hard work he put in to wear maroon....had he worked similarly, once selected..... things would have been different.....

Vinod Kambli & Sachin Tendulkar...

Kambli played just 17 test scored 2 doubles...several centuries...@ 54... extremely talented..but just ....

Sachin , worked his way to become GOAT....

...Paul Gascoigne...many more...

In reply to Onionman0

kambli had a problem with the short ball, which became painfully apparent when the WI visited india in 1994. the one pitch at nagpur that gave the wi bowlers a sniff, india were humiliated. prabhjakar got his nosed smashed in by a benjamin bouncer and the rest of the team were psychologically shattered after that. kambli was never the same after that. it didn't help that he was from the dalit/untouchable class in a country obsessed with skin color and caste. there was one point in india's history, after manjrekar had been dropped where tendulkar and azharuddin were the only dudes who could handle aggressive short pitched bowling. azhar's hundred in 1990 in england were sublime and tendulkar showed his chops by scoring hundreds in england, sa and australia. also. as pretty as kambli was, he was unable to adjust his technique when the conditions were not ideally subcontinental. tendulkar and azhar, and later dravid were able to do it

before Paint, Hooper served the longest as a nonperformer, the guy who set the standard for our decline.

can't argue with his talent, while Paint overachieved with almost no talent.

In reply to camos



pupa jesus

In reply to ponderiver

I have a young brethren( former Cornwall College leg spinning allrounder) who played youth cricket for Jamaica against Guyana. He came back from a tournament in awe of Carl Hooper…that was the first time I was hearing about him…my brethren said that Hooper told him that he had 4 or 5 shots against any delivery…

In reply to FanAttick

3 of which got him out.

In reply to natty_forever

In reply to natty_forever