I'm 100 per cent behind Brian," he said.Hooper pulled out of the first two matches of the four-Test series to stay in Adelaide with his Australian wife, Connie Tambakis, and their infant son, who is undergoing tests for an undisclosed medical condition.He had intended to wait for the results of the most recent tests that his son's had undergone, but said he felt he had to make an immediate decision on his cricketing future or risk missing the whole series.He said that if things took a turn for the worse here "the board has more or less assured me that they will allow me to come back"."But I think it's a time also where West Indies cricket can ill afford to be without some of their main players and I just think I've got to bite the bullet and go."Hooper said earlier this week he had felt "torn in two" watching on television as West Indies collapsed to their worst Test match total at Port-of-Spain, and he clearly felt that he had to make a quick decision.. I HAVE seldom watched a more bloodless day's cricket. South Africa spent most of this second day in pursuit of New Zealand's paltry 168 and when at last they overtook that score, they proceeded at the same miserly rate and ended the day only 61 runs to the good, but with one wicket down. The principal culprit, if one can call him that, was Herschelle Gibbs who took 383 minutes of hard labour to get to his maiden Test century. The redeeming feature may be that having achieved that landmark, his previous highest score was 54, he will show what he is made of. New Zealand's attack was pretty ordinary. Simon Doull, who had strained an ankle on Thursday, was able to bowl but was perhaps too careful not to aggravate the injury.The others were journeymen. Geoff Allott, left arm over the wicket, was at best steady; Dion Nash has neither the pace nor the swing he once showed.

Daniel Vettori, the left-arm spinner, bowled a tidy length but lacks any sort of guile, while Chris Harris and Nathan Astle are medium-pace dobbers.The South Africans like to win and this probably justified, for them, their depressing progress. It will serve them right if a doubtful weather forecast wins the day. Gary Kirsten and Gibbs batted for an unconscionable time, as if facing Australia, attempting almost nothing on an orderly pitch.They put on 127 for the first wicket in 52 overs before Gibbs gave himself away when he straight drove Vettori for six and, soon after lunch, Kirsten swept at Vettori and was caught at midwicket. Thus fell the day's only wicket.Jacques Kallis began with a flurry of strokes but soon disappeared back into his shell. The rest of an interminable day was spent watching Gibbs negotiate that first hundred.

He spent 39 minutes in the 80s, 54 minutes in the 90s and when a lovely cover drive off Allott took him to a hundred he had faced 268 balls. It has been that sort of Test match.Second day: New Zealand won tossNEW ZEALAND - First innings 168 (Pollock 4-34)SOUTH AFRICA - First innings(overnight: 54-0)G Kirsten c Astle b Vettori 65H H Gibbs not out 101J H Kallis not out 53Extras (6lb 4nb) 10Total (for 1, 101 overs) 229Fall of wickets: 1-127To bat: D J Cullinan, *W J Cronje, J N Rhodes, S M Pollock, M V Boucher, L Klusener, P R Adams, A A Donald.Bowling: S B Doull 19.5-7-26-0; G I Allott 25-7-70-0; D J Nash 17-5- 38-0; N J Astle 5.1-1-12-0; D L Vettori 21-5-62-1; G R Stead 1-0-1-0; C Z Harris 12-6-14-0.Umpires: K T Francis (Sri Lanka) and D M Quested (New Zealand).. IN THE end Alexandra Meissnitzer did not have to move a muscle to become the first Austrian to win the women's super-giant slalom World Cup. The weather that had proved so fickle forced the organisers to cancelled the final race of the season yesterday.

Too much snow on parts of the course in the Sierra Nevada mountains of southern Spain, after three postponements on Thursday, meant that Meissnitzer acquired her second World Cup title without a contest. She had already claimed the overall crown before arriving in Spain and looks sure to finish supreme in the giant slalom competition which ends today. Meissnitzer has won four of the eight giant slaloms so far and only the veteran Austrian Anita Wachter has any chance of overhauling her.Few could complain that Meissnitzer was not a worthy champion, despite the fact that the super-G series ended in anticlimax. She won only twice in eight races, but was never out of the top 15. Her only super-G challenger before Spain was compatriot Michaela Dorfmeister, but only a disaster could have changed the outcome.. THE TIME will inevitably come when West Indies cricket will awake from its present, prolonged nightmare but, for the moment, it remains constantly dreadful.

Distraught after the descent to their lowest-ever total of 51 and heavy defeat by Australia in the first Test on Monday, developments since have been discouraging. Earlier news that Shivnarine Chanderpaul would not, after all, be fit enough for the second Test, starting today at Sabina Park, that Carl Hooper would not be back from Australia in time and that Curtly Ambrose was carrying an inflamed knee has been followed by another injury. Fast bowler Reon King fell heavily on his shoulder during practice on Thursday and was ruled out of the match after a medical examination. The selectors immediately called for Corey Collymore, a 22-year-old Barbadian who has impressed in his debut season. He is on standby, but Ambrose underwent a thorough workout yesterday without apparent discomfort and he and his long-time partner Courtney Walsh appear set to again spearhead the West Indies bowling. The pitch is unlikely to do them any favours and Steve Waugh's assessment had an ominous ring to West Indian ears."Unless I'm a bad judge, it is going to turn square," he said. "I think it's going to be bouncy on the first day but it's only a matter of time before it starts spinning big time."It has prompted a shift in traditional West Indian policy, with the inclusion of the Jamaican off-spinner Nehemiah Perry, who is certain to play his first Test at the age of 30 in his 13th season of regional cricket.