Legendary Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram has rated former West Indian allrounder Carl Hooper, as one of the best batsmen he played against during his international career. Akram, who was named on ESPNCricinfo's all time Test World XI two years ago, made the comments during an episode of the Web site's podcast series 'My XI', in which former players rank their toughest opponents. In his assessment, Akram praised the Guyanese right-hander's ability to handle short-pitched bowling as a mark of his class. "He was obviously one of the top batsmen West Indies have produced...I bowled him a lot of bouncers but he would either block or leave and that was very annoying as a bowler. A common quality with the top batsmen I bowled against was that they were all excellent against short pitched bowling," he said. "He wasn't a big front foot player, but most of the time he played late and waited for ball to come to him instead of going towards it."
Hooper enjoyed a good record against Pakistan, making 998 runs and averaging 45.36 in 14 Tests compared to his career mark of 36.46. His best performance against them was an unbeaten 178 in Antigua in 1993, during which he and Courtney Walsh (30) shared a then West Indian record of 106 for the last wicket. Akram, who conceded figures of 26.2-5-108-2 at the time, said he still had vivid memories of the battle nearly 20 years later. "I got him out early in his career because in the beginning he was not big on the front foot and inswing was an option against him...He got settled after a couple of years and I remember he got 170-odd against us in St Johns in '93. I still remember when I bowled him a bouncer when he was 140-odd and he hit it out of the stadium. I don't know where the ball went. We couldn't find it so the umpire gave us a new rock."
Akram also cited Hooper's temperament as a reason for his success. "He was a proper allround cricketer in any format. Excellent in One Day Internationals and even better in Tests...He was a very strong character. He never said anything to you as a batsman but you knew he was strong inside...A very calm customer. Calm people bothered me more than people who were very aggressive like Sir Viv Richards." Other batsmen to make Akram's shortlist so far include Desmond Haynes, Alec Stewart, Sunil Gavaskar, Andy Flower, Sanath Jayasuria, Mark Taylor and Martin Crowe.
