THE MANAGEMENT Team of the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise which competes in the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament, yesterday named former Guyana and West Indies player Carl Hooper the head coach of the Guyana Amazon Warriors for this year’s tournament. 

The 48-year-old Hooper, who was the assistant coach of the Antigua Hawksbill for the 2014 edition of the tournamen which was won by Barbados Tridents, replaces another outstanding Guyana and West Indies cricketer in Roger Harper, who coached the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the first two editions of the tournament.
Hooper has held various coaching positions after his playing career which included coach at the West Indies Cricket Board’s High Performance Centre (HPC) in Barbados.
A former West Indies captain in his own right, Hooper was an elegant right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler who came to prominence in the late 1980s in a West Indies side that included such players as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.
He represented the West Indies over a 21-year International Career and chalked up a highest Test Score of 233 against India in 2001 and scored some 5 762 runs in his Test career.
Hooper represented Guyana at the First Class level and played English County Cricket for Kent and Lancashire and in 2003 he became only the second player to have scored a century against all 18 English County teams.
Hooper also 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 ODI’s and Tests, a feat only matched since by the South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
On his appointment Hooper said: “I am extremely delighted to be appointed as head coach of the Guyana Amazon Warriors Team and to be part of the CPL 2015. I do look forward to working with the immensely talented and exciting group of cricketers that are involved with this team.
I also want to assist with the overall development of the young Guyana cricketers who will be part of the squad for CPL 2015. It will be remiss of me if I didn’t express my sincere thanks and appreciation to Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, franchise owner of the Guyana Amazon Warriors for providing me with this opportunity.”
Team Operations Manager of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, Omar Khan, has expressed his full support on the appointment of Hooper.
“Carl brings a wealth of experience and skills to our team and I am confident that he will be a great motivator and use all of his expertise to bring the best out of all the players in their performances so as to contribute to the team winning the tournament this year in what promises to be a much more hyped-up and high-profile 2015 CPL,” said Khan.