Top 5 number 5s in Tests for West Indies

The West Indies have been one of the most fascinating cricketing entities in history, considering the fact that they are a collection of different Caribbean islands and not actually a country.

Despite that, it has been one of the most successful teams in history and no other team has come close to the sort of dominance that they enjoyed in the late 1970s and 1980s. Although the West Indies are best known for their plethora of outstanding fast bowlers, they could also boast of plenty of superb batsmen and many of them played for them at number 5 in the middle-order.

Most of them were superb stoke-makers, capable of taking any attack apart on their day and had the capability of defending stolidly when the situation demanded.

Here is a look at 5 of the best.

#5 Carl Hooper

The former captain and all-rounder represented the West Indies for around 15 years from 1987 to 2002 and went on to become one of the most important middle-order batsmen in the team.

Carl Hooper played 102 Test matches in his career and batted at number 5 in 50 of them. Hooper's gifts was a batsman are beyond question but it is often said that he did not quite make full use of his considerable prowess.

He was excellent against pace and hardly ever faced any difficulties in handling the best fast bowlers. On the other hand, spin bowling did not faze him either and hence a career average of 35.34 is a bit unflattering for a batsman of such calibre.

However, while batting at number 5, he fared much better and remains West Indies' third most successful batsman with an aggregate of 2911 runs in 50 Tests.

He averaged 42.18 in the position and made 7 hundreds, in addition to 13 half-centuries. 

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