Brian Lara is often considered one of two greatest batters of his generation, the other being India's Sachin Tendulkar. However, Lara himself feels that a former West Indies captain of his was more talented than both players.
In an excerpt from Lara's upcoming book 'Lara: The England Chronicles', the West Indies said that Carl Hooper, who captained the team in 22 matches between 2001 and 2003, was probably more talented than himself or Tendulkar. "Carl was easily one of the best players I've ever seen. I would say that not even Tendulkar and myself would come close to that talent," says Lara in the book.
Lara points out that Hooper did especially well while he was captain. "Separate Carl's career from playing to captaining and his numbers are very different. As a captain he averaged near to 50, so he enjoyed the responsibility. It's sad that only as a captain did he fulfil his true potential," he said.
Hooper played 102 Tests and 227 ODIs for the West Indies between 1987 and 2003. He had almost identical runs in both formats, scoring 5762 Test runs at an average of 36.46 with 13 centuries and 27 half-centuries. In ODIs, he had 5761 runs at an average of 35.34 with seven centuries and 29 half-centuries. Hooper was also a talented spinner and was often deployed as an all-rounder. He took 114 wickets in Test cricket and 193 in ODIs.
‘Haynes, Richards, Greenidge, would stop what they were doing just to watch him’
{{/usCountry}}Hooper played 102 Tests and 227 ODIs for the West Indies between 1987 and 2003. He had almost identical runs in both formats, scoring 5762 Test runs at an average of 36.46 with 13 centuries and 27 half-centuries. In ODIs, he had 5761 runs at an average of 35.34 with seven centuries and 29 half-centuries. Hooper was also a talented spinner and was often deployed as an all-rounder. He took 114 wickets in Test cricket and 193 in ODIs.
‘Haynes, Richards, Greenidge, would stop what they were doing just to watch him’
{{/usCountry}}Lara recalled the role that Hooper played in the drawn Lord's Test against England in June 1991. The match was the second in the series after West Indies lost in the first Test at Headingley, their first defeat away from home to England since July 1969. That 1991 tour was also the Viv Richards' final Test series and Lara said that the legendary West Indies was especially hard on him and Hooper, probably because he wanted to push the talented players as much as he could. Lara was yet to make his Test debut and couldn't make it into the West Indies XI throughout the tour.
"When I think back to that Lord's match I see the class of Carl Hooper. Man, what a player. The ease in which he batted brought out a kind of awe in us, and in all of us, even the senior players. You felt that when Carl went out to bat, they enjoyed it - (Desmond) Haynes, Richards, (Gordon) Greenidge, all these guys would stop what they were doing just to watch him," said Lara.
"He was so talented, yet he didn't understand just how good he was. People would ask why he didn't do full justice to his brilliance, and you know what, there is no clear reason for it. But I will say this: Viv used to make me cry every three weeks, but he would make Carl cry once a week. Viv's tone of voice is intimidating and if you're not strong enough, you can take that personally and be affected by it. Me, I was never really affected by it. In a way I welcomed it, because I was so much under his arm that I knew abuse was coming and I was a strong personality. Carl? I know for a fact that Carl shied away from Viv Richards," he said.