Hooper bowls Lancashire to victory

LIVERPOOL: Former West Indies captain Carl Hooper bowled Lancashire to a handsome 10-wicket victory over Leicestershire in their English County Championship match yesterday.

Hooper’s off-spin earned him a five-wicket haul that helped dislodge Leicestershire for 212 in their second innings, and Lancashire — set 24 runs to win — eased to victory at 24 without loss on the stroke of lunch time. Following on after their first innings reply of 314 fell well short of Lancashire’s 503 for six declared, Leicestershire resumed at 130 for five and were only able to add 82 runs to their total. Hooper, who had picked up three wickets the previous afternoon, added top-scorer Darren Maddy and David Brignull (6) to his victims’ list yesterday to end with impressive figures of five for 52 off 26.4 overs. Maddy (48) advanced down the track to Hooper, but was beaten in the flight to leave the Leicestershire batsman stranded as Warren Hegg completed the stumping. Hooper bowled Brignull to finish the match and complete a fine allround performance. The 36-year-old Guyanese had scored a fluent 74 off 88 balls with 13 fours and two sixes, in Lancashire’s first innings score.