Hooper appointed Guyana captain
Carl Hooper will take over as captain of the Guyana team for next year's Busta Cup cricket team which excludes middle order batsman Andre Percival, the Guyana Cricket Board revealed yesterday. The retired West Indies all-rounder Hooper had indicated he will return home to play a farewell competition for his country after announcing his retirement from international cricket earlier this year. He is due to return to the region on January 3 for the competition which starts on January 7. A Guyana Cricket Board press release states that Hooper will be in charge for the entire series in which Guyana could play a maximum seven matches including the five preliminary matches and the semi-final and final. The 13-man squad which excludes Percival, who had a creditable series last year, is for the first two matches against Trinidad and Jamaica. GCC batsman Zaheer Haniff is included at the expense of the Berbician. Five standbys including Percival have been shortlisted. Current West Indies players Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Reon King in New Zealand will be available after the first two games. Youth player Narsingh Deonarine who will be touring Sri Lanka from next month with the West Indies under-19 team for the Youth World Cup, was also not considered. Hooper last captained Guyana in last year's Red Stripe Bowl one-day competition which this country won in Jamaica. The 32-year-old all-rounder then abruptly announced his retirement during the Cable and Wireless one-day series against Australia in April. The team: Carl Hooper (captain), Nicholas de Groot, Azeemul Haniff, Keith Semple, Ramnarace Sarwan, Travis Dowlin, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Neil McGarrell, Vishal Nagamootoo, Colin Stuart, Kevin Darlington, Garvin Nedd and Zaheer Haniff. The standbys: Andre Percival, Homchand Pooran, Ricardo Mohamed, Andrew Gonsalves and Asib Ali Haniff.
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