Selectors pick West Indies captain Friday

KINGSTON: The West Indies selection panel is meeting on Friday to pick a West Indies cricket captain for the forthcoming Cable and Wireless Series against Australia.

Selector Joey Carew told CMC Sport yesterday that selection chairman Sir Vivian Richards is convening a meeting on Friday for the panel to decide on their nomination for captaincy. The panel will give the board their recommendation after Friday’s meeting. The issue of the West Indies team captaincy has sparked great discussion in the past week after the team’s first-round exit from the World Cup and pronouncements by regular captain Carl Hooper that he was considering retirement.

Hooper, who had a miserable World Cup, scoring a mere 99 runs in six innings at an average of 19.80, was urged by Sir Vivian to stay on as team captain and the 36-year-old Guyanese is now at his Australian home resting his troublesome knees ahead of his return. The West Indies team’s physiotherapist in South Africa, Sunet Liebenberg recommended a break for Hooper, who had knee surgery in November, as he prepares for the home series against Australia starting next month. “In order for the patient to fully recover from the previous surgery, I recommend a two-week rest period,” Leibenberg had stated in a report to the regional authorities.

Hooper, who took over from Jimmy Adams as West Indies captain at the start of the 2001 home series against South Africa, is expected to return to competitive cricket later this month, probably in the Carib Beer International Challenge Series semi-finals for Guyana starting on March 28. The Australians arrive on April 2 for a series of four Tests and seven One-Day Internationals against the West Indies.