Low morale caused by Hooper’s decision

THE EDITOR: Carl Hooper has once again been allowed to turn his back in disloyalty to the religion of West Indian cricket when he was dearly needed to support Brian Lara to regroup and rebuild the team to assail the impregnability of the Aussies citadel.

He should now be discarded from any further involvement with the team because he lacks magnanimity, West Indian patriotism and solidarity. His behaviour is childish and puerile. Carl is a complete all-rounder having excelled in bowling, batting and fielding.  As a captain he was an unmitigated disaster but should have demonstrated the maturity and diplomacy to stay on as a senior player to assist in grooming the emerging new cadre of young, talented cricketers who would have profited enormously from his experience. Look how many former captains are still playing with the Indians, Pakistani’s and the English. The low morale plaguing the West Indian cricketing fraternity is the product of insularity and pettiness that underpinned Hooper’s decision.

One just has to look at the modus operandi of the most Rev Wes Hall in making a complete mess of the right of the West Indian Players Association (WIPA) to make representations on behalf of their members, the premature appointment of Australian King as the coach without elementary prior consultations and perhaps his lack of communication with Hooper prior to appointing Brian Lara as his replacement. One has to pray that recurring West Indian Cricket administrative faux pas and lack of strategic planning do not jeopardise the fortunes of the World Cup 2007.

Hooper should be thanked for his services to the amalgam of West Indian cricket and allowed to retire beyond the boundary of good sense, gratitude and the West Indian cricketing ethos to benefit English Club Cricket, not West Indian Youth Cricket.

STEPHEN KANGAL
Caroni