David Hookes

Born as David William Hookes, he was an aggressive left-handed batsman that played for Australia from 1977 till 1986. He is mostly remembered as the captain of South Australia. He made his debut for South Australia in 1975-76.

Hookes got selected for the Centenary Test held in 1977 at the tender age of 21. The second innings of the match saw Hookes achieve a revolutionary feat of five consecutive boundaries. Hookes acquired 283 runs at an average of 31.44.

Later on, The World Series Cricket signed a contract with Hookes and sent him as part of the team to tour England. He scored 770 runs in 12 Supertests during 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons.

Post WSC, health problems dominated Hookes’ form and restricted his performance to bare minimal. The Australian tour of Pakistan in 1980 saw him dismissed by Iqbal Qasim twice without scoring significant runs. Hookes was losing the battle against slow bowling with poor foot-work.

This led to his dismissal from the Australian team and the South Australia team also after a short while. However, he was again posted as the South Australia captain in 1981-82 and led the team to victory for the Sheffield Shield. This feat in turn re-confirmed his place in the Australian batting line up for the 1982-83 Ashes Series. Hookes responded well by scoring 344 runf for an average of 49.14.

Hookes performed poorly at the 1983 World Cup and was kept out of the 1983-84 Test Series against Pakistan. The fall of his innings from test cricket began after the 1984. Hookes played his final international matched in 1985-86 for two Tests against India and New Zealand.

Hookes played for Domestic matched as part of South Australian team till 1990. His retirement led to another innings with the media and opened doors towards television appearances and radio programs. Victorian cricket team selected Hookes as their coach in 2002. The team highly benefited under the expert guidance of Hookes’ experience.

Hookes breathed his last in January 2004. He suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away shortly after that.

Career Highlights

Hookes scored five consecutive boundaries while playing against England in 1977.

He scored a century from just 34 balls against Victoria in 1982.

Hookes is the highest run scorer for Sheffield Sheild in history.