Sport - Cricket

Accolades pour in for King Carl

By Vijay Lokapally

A PROUD SENIOR: Carl Hooper (centre) with students from his Christchurch Secondary School who felicitated him for his timely double century in the first Test against India at Georgetown which ended in a draw. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan

GEORGETOWN APRIL 16. Sourav Ganguly is drenched in sweat after a punishing session at the hotel gym.

Carl Hooper, not far away, is enjoying the sweet taste of recognition.

It is recognition from a different quarter, which means so much to him. It was a small trophy to hail his feats at Bourda. It was a small trophy but that carried a huge warm message from his school, the Christchurch Secondary School (CSS).

Then the Pegasus Hotel, where the teams have been staying, makes an announcement that puts Hooper in a special category. One of the suites will now be named after Carl Hooper. The hotel presently has two suites named after great personalities — Queen Elizabeth and Jimmy Carter.

The CSS Old Students Association organises a neat function in the team hotel to pay tributes to its most famous student. The West Indian skipper is moved by the gesture and is emotional in his brief speech.

``My association goes back a long way but I remember everything from my school days. I remember those matches we played and I haven't forgotten my fellow cricketers," said Hooper as he received the memento with pride.

Hooper has the unique distinction of being the first cricketer to have scored 5,000 or more runs in Tests and one-day Internationals and also 100 or more wickets in both versions of the game. It has been quite a memorable journey for Hooper, a native of Guyana.

Hooper remembered the man who taught the early lessons at school. "He was Mr. Campbell who got 12 youngsters ready to play the under-16 and under-19. I don't think I would've made it this far without people like Mr. Campbell," he said with all humility.

Reflecting on his glorious days at school, Hooper said, "I can never forget Mr. Haynes. He was the umpire at most of our matches. Then there was Selvan Ramphal who played with me a lot. Those are some fond memories and can never be erased by time."

The trophy from his schoolmates meant a lot to Hooper. "It is a very important souvenir for me. The school was the place where it all started. I never dreamt of captaining the West Indies. I learnt a lot at this school," said Hooper, who captained his school at under-16 and under-19 tournaments.

Hooper described the drawn Test as "not too bad." After all, Test cricket is a learning experience for everyone. The West Indian skipper, however, asked for more sporting tracks in the matches ahead.

"If possible, we should have bouncy and speedy tracks so that the bowlers have some chance and the spectators will also get to see some entertaining Test cricket. I am not criticising the pitch but it was always going to be difficult to get 20 wickets on this surface," he said.

Hooper, amidst all the accolades bestowed upon him, did not forget to mention that he was lucky to get an early reprieve. "I was lucky to have been dropped early. Had the catch been taken, it would have been a different ballgame altogether. But we can do better in the coming matches," Hooper added.

The West Indian skipper had words of encouragement for Cameron Cuffy. "Cuffy bowled well. Dillon needs to work a bit more," he said.

Hooper did not agree with the suggestion that he ought to have attacked more with the new ball. "There was no point in attacking for the sake of attacking. It would look stupid if we did that. We were not going to get any bat-pad (dismissals)."

The West Indian skipper wanted the team to cut down on the number of boundaries. "We gave away too many easy runs. We have to create more opportunities and have to be aggressive. But we can't be giving away too many easy runs. We have to work hard. We are not a poor side and we have the talent to bounce back," he said.

Speaking about the match, Ganguly painted a rosy picture. "I think we batted pretty well. We had a good opportunity on the first day when we had them three down quickly but unfortunately we couldn't capitalise on it. One more wicket at that stage would have put the Test in a different perspective. We were still trying to get acclimatise with the conditions and I thought the draw was pretty satisfying," Ganguly remarked.

The pitch, Ganguly noted, was pretty good for batting. "It was pretty flat. Test matches should be played on sporting tracks. I thought our bowlers bowled pretty well. We dropped a catch of Hooper but we can't let chances go. We have to learn to capitalise on the chances that come our way."

Coach John Wright agreed with Ganguly. "It's important to take the catches, especially on flat pitches. We had an opportunity in the first session. We could claim we had a big advantage but we didn't take that. It was a great pitch for batting and it was good that four of our top six showed that they were in good nick. It was good to see them go and get big scores," said Wright.

But the coach viewed the match a little differently. "We can't read a lot out of this game. We have to first get established and get a feel of the opposition, get a feel of the conditions and I'm looking forward to the next Test. We need to grab the opportunities," said Wright.

However, the coach commended the efforts of Sanjay Bangar. "I thought Bangar bowled very well. He gives us some option in the bowling department and we can look at him as an opener too, in the coming matches."

Stumped!

But Wright shocked everyone with his comments on Deep Dasgupta. "Deep has done well. I know much depends on the quality of the job behind the stumps. But we have other options in opening the batting. We can open with Wasim (Jaffer) or Bangar as partners for Shiv (Sundar Das)," said Wright.

But his remark on Dasgupta was hard to believe even though he conceded that "catching will be important. We have to be accurate."

As Hooper retired to his room, his thoughts must have centered on his next trip with the team. He might well be accommodated in the suite named after him.

Ganguly may secretly desire such privilege back home in Kolkata. For that to happen, he can make an earnest start with the next Test at Port of Spain.

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