Guyana Chronicle
April 21, 2001

KINGSTON, Jamaica, (Reuters) - West Indies captain Carl Hooper backed the decision to implement a system of fines on players guilty of rash shots.

His comments appeared to come in response to a number of his batsmen succumbing to soft dismissals on day one of the fifth Test against South Africa at Sabina Park on Thursday.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat, the West Indies were reeling on 214 for nine wickets in their first innings at stumps.

The fines system was implemented after a catalogue of sloppy performances in the field and with the bat in the series, and Hooper himself was the most guilty on Thursday, caught after South African captain Shaun Pollock placed two men in the deep for a hook shot.

"It's not something that's going to work overnight," Hooper said of the fines system. "It's something which will only work over time and I'm sure we'll get an improvement, especially on the soft dismissals.

"Funnily enough, just after implementing it I go and play a shot like that, but that's the way the game is. It's the first really rash shot I've played the whole series and I've paid a heavy price for it.

"With the system we now have, when you play shots such as mine you get fined, it's as simple as that."

Hooper readily admitted that his side came off second best on a day when the South Africans bowled to their strengths, giving little away outside off-stump and waiting for the errors to come.

"I don't think we came up to scratch. The top four or five guys have got to get stuck in and make sure that we have a proper launchpad for our innings.

"It was a good wicket to bat on and we had a lot of debate over whether to bat first or last but it just goes to show it's the same result whatever you do.

"At the end of the day the batting let us down again," Hooper said.