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“Chanderpaul, eyes focused like a laser on the ball from run up to the moment he demolishes it with his trademark pull/sweep, raises his bat, and kisses the pitch as the ball ricochets back off the boundary. The “Tiger” has reached yet another half century, this one the most important of all.” That was a few days ago, as Guyanese and Caribbean cricket legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, former captain of the West Indies team, ICC’s Hall of Fame inductee, West Indian hero, and one of cricket’s most celebrated players, attained 50 years old.

Deserving appreciations for this unsung hero from Unity village, Guyana, who was denied the chance to become the leading test scorer in West Indies cricket, and “forced to retire,” when his career was unceremoniously derailed by Dave Cameron’s and the WICB’s whimsical and spiteful actions, poured in, not least in “Little Guyana,” where he is revered. The left-handed batsman scored 11,867 runs at an average of 51, with 30 centuries in an illustrious career of 164 Tests to end at the second place in the list of all-time West Indies run scorers, 86 runs short of legendary Brian Lara with 11,953 runs.

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Very nice piece highlighting exactly what I admired about Shiv. It was not necessarily his batsmanship, even though his extra cover drive along the ground stood out with the best of them, but it was his willingness to work hard at his craft to compete at the highest level, his determination and concentration at the crease that made me a fan and I salute him for succeeding.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

the west indian tendency to historical revisionism is partially what has the cricket in the state it is. Shiv did not average above 40 for his first 51 tests(avg of 3 and only scored 2 hundreds. In the 90s there was only one batsman keeping West Indies cricket relevant, and the lowest he ever averaged was 48, and that wasn't even between 1990-2000

I agree with most of what's been said ....Shiv was not the most naturally talented but he scaled the heights through sheer hard work....i dnt see these modern day clowns emulating that mainly because i dnt think the will is there to do the necessary work to improve their game but hope to be proved wrong....for sure the batting group undoubtedly is the worse I've ever seen!!

Why you think they’ve all been trying to do.

West Indian batsmanship in rd ball cricket models itself, or more accurately tries to model itself after Chanderpaul

Strokeless wonders intent in preserving their wicket without the skills to do so.

Shiv was unique. Only Larry Gomes of anywhere near recent vintage had success with that approach and he didn’t haven’t the kind of success that Shiv had.

Modeling West Indies batsmen after Shiv is exactly the wrong thing to do. And it’s been proven by what we have in red ball cricket today.

What we need are batsmen who can bat. Play the ball on merit and willing to dispatch bad bowling. Not endless prodders and plodders blocking half volley after half volley.

Nice intention to honor shiv. You do not honor him this way. What’s his legacy? Kraigg Brathwaite? Tage? Solozano? Reifer? Moseley? DaSilva? Bonner?

Nah man. Doh do shiv like dat.

Shiv is one of our all time greats. As dogged as he was, he could also play fluently both sides of the wicket, and score at well over a run a ball when needed. He has all the shots in the book.

He played under the shadow of free scoring players like Lara and Hooper and Sarwan, so he ended up taking on the anchor role in an increasingly brittle west indies line up.

But boy, he could play all shots. And then some!

In reply to brians_da_best

Well Said Boss!

In reply to imusic

you will be chastised for this but your pov has merit

the game has changed look at franchise cricket it has shown the way forward for our batsmen

Can you imagine in a few years time someone will be waxing lyrical about Paint the cricket slayer

In reply to imusic

YESSSSSSS

In reply to imusic

Bro, modelling is not cloning, Joe Soloman, Larry Gomes and Shiv Chanderpaul, were the glue to the middle order of teams, and areas of their batsmanship should be admired.
Red ball cricket and White cricket are different formats, they need different applications, no one expects Pooran to model Shiv in T20 cricket.
Viv after playing his last match for a university team vs South Africa stated "West Indies batsman seem to be a group of survivors", Ryan Hinds Deonarine was part of that group.
This poking and survival has been going on for decades.

I also heard Michael Holding on commentary getting frustrated after Gayles played one swipe and got bowled, during a match in England.
Mickey said that's what happens when you play Rubbish cricket.

THIS

Please god gimme 3 or 4 people who can do this

In reply to openning

well too bad we haven't heard mikey's opine of Kraigg's poor man's crabby impression. im sure it would be less than flattering

In reply to eXodus

Athanaze and Carty can. Hodge is willing, if not yet consistently able. There’s a start at least

In reply to imusic

I totally agree with you on this matter, and I may add the only three legends that I think have the interpersonal communication skills are Lara, Bishop and Dujon. These 3 seems to communicate effectively and articulate all aspect of the game to me.

In reply to tc1

Don’t sleep on Carlos Brathwaite. He is nuanced and articulate. Not sure it’s an area he wants to explore though

In reply to Jumpstart

Kraigg and most Bajan cricketers must keep you up at night.
Dude why don't you look in the mirror and acknowledge your shortcomings, it is only disgusted people who see the worst in others.

In reply to openning

Is he wrong about Kraigg tho?

In reply to imusic

Kraigg has his flaws, he is at number 15 among the most tons in the history of West Test cricket, and among the most tons in FC cricket.
So, my friend can do BAT.

In reply to openning

homes....even the most rubbish cricketers will score 15 hundreds if they are given 91 test matches in which to do it regardless of average. Kraigg is a terrible batsman. poor man's version of shiv, and shiv as successful as he was is not a dude would have put people in their seats for a cricket match. if yuh give shai hope 91 tests regardless of performance(he only averages 25) i'm sure he'd be able to creep to 15 hundreds

Id take chanderpaul over theese ones in the side at the moment

In reply to Jumpstart

Keep watching, he will regroup and come back stronger.
I am going to enjoy the ride.

In reply to openning

You can’t help yourself.

In reply to openning

Once he learns to bat.

In reply to imusic

Preach it bro.
Shiv was great; however, his time has passed.
Cricket has evolved.
If de chupid CWI want to emulate a cricketer,
why not Lara, Richards, Greenidge, Haynes.
I can name the likes of Rowe, Kali and other pure batsmen, but I am sticking to 90's.
Shiv was a prodigy in his own way.
His technique is not one to emulate or set aside as a benchmark.
let me state at this point that, 'Shiv was/is a Great.'

We must be honest and realize that Shiv was very selfish, especially in his latter years.
Taking singles early in overs and exposing de tail-end batsmen.
Holder did that very well in the last test (first innings)
which possible contributed to a lost.
Holder gave a proper demonstration of what Shiv did in his latter years.
Lara would have added another 50 to 100 by shepherding the tail.
That's the difference with a great and very good.
Like I said earlier, Shiv is great, BUT cause of stats only.
With his stats, he must be considered great,
however, if one look at all nuances etc, I wonder what the verdict would be.

I would not ask any young batsman to emulate or even look at Shiv batting as a guide.

You mean if the people say emulate Shiv, they mean everything 100 percent? Yall aint easy.

15 hundreds in 91 games isn't bad at all. That's a 100 every 6 tests.

Players like lara etc had one every 4 tests.

The trouble with kraig is he doesn't do much in between.

He should be averaging in the 40s at the very minimum

In reply to imusic

A post worthy to read. Thank you Sir. Let’s give shiv his kudos; applaud his batting average, which he kept improving with a single-mindedness of purpose. But a role model for batsmen? really?

In reply to brians_da_best

David Warner averaged a hundred ever four tests, Graeme smith averaged a hundred every four or five tests. Even a player as similarly dour and defensive as Kraigg, Alistair cook averaged a hundred every five tests. Dude Kraigg cannot bat. In addition to this, all these openers average well over 40

In reply to Jumpstart

Look , a century every 6 tests isn't bad.

And yes, because he does nothing in between, his record is mediocre

You'd expect someone with 15 centuries to be averaging 40 at a bare minimum

I would drop him in a heart beat if we had a replacement

In reply to brians_da_best

And there it is!

Making someone undroppable until we find a replacement.

Wow.

Keep Brafit failing ass fa another 90 tests,

Unbelievable stupidity.

In reply to brians_da_best

You are trying to argue that while not comparing Kraig’s stats to the people who have played more or less as much or more matches than him. What data are you using to state that six centuries is not bad? Darren bravo scored a hundred every 7 games and a half century every three games? Where is he in WI cricket?


Yes it is

In reply to Jumpstart

Darren Bravo created problems on the New Zealand tour and retreated, he should have been selected for the last WC and would have gone on tour to Australia.
When you burn bridges it comes back to haunt you.
Darren Bravo is surely not a good comparison.

In reply to openning

All conjecture you have no way of corroborating. And if you mean having issues with the braid dead tactics of the brain dead skipper, then that is completely rational

i told you and others on this page cricketers are not bellhops and bus boys, to quote one caribbean PM. Maybe bajan players in the afro saxon tradition see it as hubris to complain to and about the skipper when the ship is sinking, but i don't think that is a sane position

In reply to Jumpstart

I have been writing on this mb about the role of a captain in cricket for several years, I ignore all threads on that topic.
If you were watching on the radio, you would have been clueless as to what was going on in real-time.
I get why captains in other team sports are not the on-field marshalls, but carry on.
And don't come with any BS on the obvious.
England, Australia, and India management make plenty of decisions in real-time, during the games.

Darren Bravo Out Of New Zealand Tour For Personal Reasons

In reply to openning

bravo's career problems started after 2013. he was exiled in 2016.

In reply to Jumpstart

Ask Darren Sammy why.

In reply to openning

darren sammy was self conscious because he knew he did not even command a place on the WI squad.....as a result, he was sensitive

Not true, Cameron was pro Shiv, but in the name of peace in the camp, he ceded decision to the majority!