Hoop-Hoop-Hooper. The chant began sometime late-afternoon. When Carl Hooper reached his 100 with a wristy, open-faced drive to square third-man off Anil Kumble, it cresendoed. Fifteen or so boys and men climbed over a meshed wire fence and tumbled onto the field with the green, red and yellow flag of Guyana. Hooper himself celebrated with an uncustomary exuberance. It was his first century at home and the first by a Guyanese at Bourda since Shivnarine Chanderpaul's against England four years ago. They call him Sir Carl here. Today, he was. Oh he had moments. Before tea, Sourav Ganguly had made one last attempt to correct a wicketless afternoon. Hooper sent Javagal Srinath to the backward square-leg fence with a dancing pirouette. When Srinath grumbled, pitched short-and-slow the next ball, Hooper gave him an enormous thump to midwicket. Battle won. No sweat. Kumble got the two-in-two treatment later on. A pull and a lofted extra-cover drive set the tone for the final session that was all West Indies.

He had his luck. A ball after Brian Lara was not out, Hooper should have been out, but the flying inside-edge off Srinath was hardly ever going to be Dasgupta's cup of tea. Later VVS Laxman didn't dive for a catch that should have been.

No matter. Hooper gives the impression of a man who forgets easily. His initials, CL could be Cool Languid. And so he pressed along, never batting like a man waiting to get to hundred. He's feeling it nowadays. At Sharjah, he made two fifties in two Tests against Pakistan and he returned home to lead Guyana to the Busta Cup. His contribution: 222 against Leeward Islands in the semi-final, 149 not out against Jamaica in the final.

At a little dark huddle of a press conference at the end of a day, just above a rocking Georgetown Cricket Club Bar, he explained his mini-explosion at reaching the hundred. "I was just desperate to get a hundred here. I was just so happy when it happened."

"Maybe this is my time." Thirty-five, captain, and in his prime. "It's better late than never."

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com India. His reports will appear here throughout the Test series.

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