Carl Llewelyn Hooper (born 15 December 1966) is a former Guyanese cricketer who captained the West Indies in Tests and ODIs.
An all-rounder, he was a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler, who came to prominence in the late 1980s in a side that included such players as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh and represented the West Indies over a 16-year international career.
Hooper first represented the West Indies at youth level and eventually became a regular for Guyana in senior regional tournaments.
[3][4][5] He was later named man of the match, scoring 81 and picking up 5 for 26 in the drawn second test of Sri Lanka's 1997 tour of the Windies, played at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
[6][7] As well he was named player of the series for the 1997-98 Singer Akai Champions Trophy, where the Windies were defeated by England in the tournament's final.
Hooper eventually spent six years at the English side and was later described by Jo Harman of Wisden as Kent's greatest overseas player of all time.
[17] Shane Warne also thought very highly of Hooper's footwork and, in 2008, named him among the top 100 cricketers of his time, citing in particular his ability to disguise his dances down the track.
Warne felt that determining when a batsman was going to give the charge was one of the most important things for a spinner, and that Hooper was the best at making it indeterminable.
Hooper first announced his retirement three weeks before the 1999 Cricket World Cup but made a surprising comeback in 2001 as West Indies captain.
Hooper holds the accolade of being the first cricketer in the world to have scored 5,000 runs, taken 100 wickets, held 100 catches and received 100 caps in both ODIs and Tests, a feat only matched since by Jacques Kallis.
[26][27] Since the late 1990s while still playing for West Indies, Hooper has lived, with wife Constance in Adelaide South Australia.
During May 2011 Hooper was appointed as the batting coach of the Sagicor High Performance Centre located at the University of the West Indies' Cave Hill Campus.