Dear Editor,

Many diehard supporters of West Indies cricket are castigating the current West Indies cricket team on their dismal performances, especially on overseas tours. However, they ought not to forget that these performances did not start under Hooper's captaincy, it is something inherited by Hooper. We were beaten 5-0 by Australia, 3-1 by England and 2-0 by New Zealand. In fact our only triumph on an overseas sojourn was against Zimbabwe under Carl Hooper's stewardship.

Under Hooper's stewardship we lost to Sri Lanka 3-0 and Pakistan 2-0. However, we were confronted with the wily Murali Muralitharan in Sri Lanka whilst against Pakistan we succumbed to some questionable decisions. In fact we were playing against thirteen players, the usual eleven and the two umpires (against Pakistan).

A careful assessment of the West Indies team will reflect that we have only four players of considerable international exposure viz: 1) Carl Hooper 2) Brian Lara 3) Shivnarine Chanderpaul and (4) Ridley Jacobs. We have a team in transformation, we are moulding a team. You can bet this present West Indies team will be a force to reckon with at the next World Cup. Let's have faith while the chips are down and rally round the West Indies.