Cricket-Hooper quits the international arena



April 25, 1999


BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 25 (Reuters) - West Indies all-rounder Carl Hooper has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect, team manager Clive Lloyd said on Sunday.

Lloyd said Hooper broke the news to team members on Saturday after the sixth one-day match against Australia here, which the touring team won by four wickets.

Hooper's place in the side for the seventh and final one-dayer against Australia at Kensington Oval on Sunday was taken by fast bowler Curtly Ambrose.

Guyana-born Hooper, 32, will also have to be replaced for the World Cup. He was in West Indies' final squad of 15 for the tournament starting in England on May 14.

Hooper, at his best an elegant strokemaker with a sound technique as well as being a useful off-spinner, played in 80 tests, having made his debut against India at Bombay in the 1987-88 series.

Hooper scored 4,153 test runs at an average of 33.76, with an unbeaten 178 the highest of his nine centuries. He took 93 test wickets at an average of 47.01, his best haul being five for 26.

Despite gracing the test arena with some handsome innings, he never quite fulfilled his immense potential at test level, as his career figures indicate.

Hooper spent five successful seasons on the English county circuit with Kent, making his debut in 1992 and becoming a popular and respected cricketer.

He scored more than 1,000 runs in county championship matches in each of his five summers with Kent.