'Mr. Hooper' does it for West Indies

HARARE, AUG. 1. Winning a Test series in Zimbabwe does not usually rank high on a captain's list of achievements, but yesterday's triumph for Carl Hooper's young West Indies side represented something of a milestone.

Before the series, the West Indies had lost 18 of its last 20 Test matches away from home, a run that included whitewashes in Australia and South Africa and an ignominious 3-1 defeat in England last year.

Yesterday's rain-affected draw in the second Test against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club ensured the West Indies its first series win away from home in six years.

It also came following victory in the One-day triangular series in which a rampant Indian side was comfortably beaten in the final.

The turnaround in fortunes is perhaps best credited to one man - Hooper.

Appointed in controversial circumstances earlier this year, the 34-year-old is in many cases a generation ahead of the youthful talent in his team, but he has shown an growing ability to conjure match-winning performances from his young players.

Man-of-the-series Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels and Daren Ganga all look up to their captain with the kind of respect normally reserved for a father figure, prompting former West Indies fast bowler Colin Croft to compare Hooper's influence to that of his own captain, Clive Lloyd.

The esteem in which Hooper is held by the young players was probably best illustrated when Sarwan referred to his captain as 'Mr. Hooper' in a television interview last week.

``First of all he shouldn't be referring to me as `Mr. Hooper'! I've known Ramnaresh since he was a little boy and `Carl' would be just fine,'' the captain chuckled as he pondered the series victory.

- Reuters

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