“If batting was a beauty contest, Hooper would be Miss World.” Those were the words of Australian journalist Malcolm Knox, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, after witnessing an innings of 102 by Carl Hooper in Brisbane during the West Indies’ 1996-7 tour of Australia. The line tells the gist of Hooper as a batter: classy and eye-catching.

The former West Indies captain was a most perplexing figure during his days under the maroon cap. He provoked admiration and exasperation in equal measure. Admiration because of his elegance as a stroke-player, exasperation because he was often seen as an underachiever.

The Guyanese stylist would play the most sumptuous innings one day, only to be dismissed like an errant schoolboy the next. He would make your heart skip a beat upon witnessing a copybook cover drive one ball, only to make that same heart ache the next after edging a casual waft at a wide delivery.

It is the curse of the languid stroke-player that his failures are frequently attributed to a lack of effort or a lack of grit. England’s David Gower was a high-class player with a good record who entertained many a gathering with the liquid ease of his batting. But he was often accused of getting out to the “lazy” shot, never mind that the same lazy shot would, at other times, rocket to the boundary. Maybe it is the impression that batting came easier to the likes of Gower, Hooper, and others of their ilk. Their errors were less forgiveable because they appeared to be among the most talented.

If you are given much, then much is expected of you. If you are more gifted than most, then it is your duty to tend and nurture your gift till it blossoms and bears fruit. And it is a dereliction of duty if you let it go to waste. The opinion of many a Caribbean cricket fan is that Hooper squandered his substantial talent.

It was said of Frank Worrell that it was worth the price of admission to see him walk to the wicket. Hooper displayed the same kind of gait, exuding class and competence wherever he was and in whatever he did on a cricket field. He was among the best slip catchers in the game, and his off-spin was good enough to capture 114 Test wickets, including four five-wicket hauls, even if Geoff Boycott thought Hooper’s was “lollipop” bowling that even his grandmother could play.

But it was the ease and elegance of his batting that took your breath away. He was so relaxed at the crease and seemed to have so much time to play that he appeared to be operating in slow motion, even to the fastest bowlers, yet he was so quick on his feet that he could dominate even the best spinners.

It is accepted wisdom in the Caribbean that Hooper underachieved. For a man who looked like he was born to bat a Test career average of 36.46 is inadequate. Others, it is believed, have achieved much more despite being given much less. His countryman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, for example, ended his Test career with an average over 50, having maximised every ounce of talent he was handed.

One thing I have observed is that players who are easy on the eye are frequently deemed more talented than others. Think about batsmen like Hooper, Gower, Faoud Bacchus, Mark Waugh, Marlon Samuels, Ian Bell, Damian Martyn, all were attractive players who, at some point in their careers, were thought to be underachievers.

Now compare that list to Chanderpaul, Steve Waugh, Michael Hussey, Larry Gomes, Jonathan Trott, all generally considered less talented than those in the first group, but who, it is generally agreed, overachieved through hard work and dedication.

Perhaps the nexus between talent and the appearance of ease is tenuous at best, non-existent at worst. Or perhaps time to play is, indeed, a manifestation of talent. We know that the best batters are able to decipher variables such as pace, length, and direction more quickly than others, and that has much to do with the time they have available to play. Yet the allure of the stylish batsman goes beyond that, and while a few have it, most don’t. Hooper had it in spades.

Throughout the Guyanese right-hander’s career there was one undeniable fact: When he was good, he was very, very good. A friend was at the Antigua Recreation Ground in 1993 and witnessed his sublime 178 against the might of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. He has watched a lot of cricket and considered it amongst the best knocks he’d seen, while his assault on Shane Warne during the One-Day Internationals (ODIs) of their 1995 visit to the West Indies was clinical and spectacular. His batting sometimes navigated the depths, but often enough, to show how good he could be, it scaled the heights as well.

He grew somewhat more consistent in the later stages of his career, especially after he was handed the West Indies captaincy in 2001. The lasting memory of Hooper, however, will be of a player who could bat like a dream, but one who never quite made full use of the considerable gift that he was granted.

garfield.v.robinson@gmail.com

Garfield Robinson