The Chanderpaul conundrum: Should ‘Tiger’ tail wag WI cricket dog?

Shivnarine Chanderpaul thinks, I am hearing, that West Indies cricket has not given him the send-off he deserved. I agree. 100%.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul also thinks, I am hearing, that West Indies cricket has not given him the send-off he deserves. As does Brian Charles Lara. I disagree. 100%.

Photo: West Indies cricket great Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Photo: West Indies cricket great Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, I am hearing, has been privately told the truth. In the considered view of the current coach and the selectors, he will be surplus to requirements for the two-Test series against Australia set to begin in Dominica this week.

I hear his defiant response. “I have decided to make myself available for the Australian series. I am not retiring. Thanks.”

Ill-advised? Perhaps. But had the long-serving former captain limited his statement to those 16 words, I think, maybe the fans would have started a spontaneous initiative to buy Shivnarine Chanderpaul some more playing time.

Leading the charge, former WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine would most likely still have sent this barb in the direction of the old enemy: “It is typical of how the WICB have mismanaged top players’ departure from WI cricket” and forthrightly condemned the manner in which the veteran batsman was being treated as “most disgraceful.”

If only for the form, the adversarial posture is an essential part of the WIPA brand so Ramnarine’s successor, Wavell Hinds, would almost certainly still have classified the process of omitting his former teammate as “untidy and distasteful.”

Photo: Former WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine. (Courtesy RJRNewsonline)
Photo: Former WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine.
(Courtesy RJRNewsonline)

Citing Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s 11,867 runs from 164 Tests with 30 centuries and 66 half-centuries, Guyana Minister with Responsibility for Sport Dr Rupert Roopnaraine might still have argued the case for retaining his countryman.

“What he has contributed,” he says, “has just been gigantic and that should have been acknowledged, recognized and dealt with appropriately. It has not been dealt with appropriately.”

Conceding that, “At the moment, on current form, he doesn’t make it (the best team)…,” he would still have concluded, I think, that we should “let him leave in a dignified way.”

And on SportsMax, former West Indies wicketkeeper Jeffrey Dujon would still have enunciated, I think, the unassailable principle that “a player should always know when he is playing his last Test.”

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, it is true, was not told that he was playing his last Test when he donned the maroon cap for the Third Test against England in early May. But by the end of it, had he been honest with himself, even without being told, surely he would have known that he had played his last Test. I did.


Photo: New West Indies cricket coach Phil Simmons (right) talks to Test captain Denesh Ramdin. (Copyright AFP 2015)
Photo: New West Indies cricket coach Phil Simmons (right) talks to Test captain Denesh Ramdin.
(Copyright AFP 2015)

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, I wrote here then, “has managed scores of 46 and 13, 1 and 7 and 0 batting often with his team in trouble. At 40, he is not the Chanderpaul of old, facing 186 and 63 balls in the two innings of the First Test and then 40 and 38 respectively in the next two Tests.

“Chanders has served West Indies cricket long and well and it would be wrong to dump him unceremoniously if he wants to stay on to try his hand against the Aussies. But someone should be designated to have a conversation with him about the advisability of playing on at this stage.”

Selection chairman Clive Lloyd and new coach Phil Simmons tried. In vain. Instead of accepting the reality, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, so often at a loss for appropriate words when he was at the helm of the team in 2005/06, forced us all to revisit the discomfiture of the “maninger” days when we almost always squirmed as he spoke to television and other interviewers.

“At the conclusion of the series,” his statement said, “it would give me an opportunity to thank the WI public and the Board for all the opportunities. It may also be an occasion for the WICB to recognize me for my long and dedicated service.

“It would be a good send-off after dedicating 21 years of my life to WI cricket.”

“Say what?” I ask myself, cringing. “Is the Tiger for real?”

But he is not done; there is more.

Photo: West Indies middle order batting star Shivnarine Chanderpaul in action against England. (Courtesy UK Telegraph)
Photo: West Indies middle order batting star Shivnarine Chanderpaul in action against England.
(Courtesy UK Telegraph)

“My request to finish up with the Australian series is not asking too much. It gives me a chance to acknowledge my supporters at home and the possibility of the WICB properly honouring me for my contribution to WI cricket. I should not be pushed into retirement.”

Take dat in allyuh rookoongkertoongkoong. I wonder what Minister Roopnaraine thinks of “dignified” now.

For me, the heart of the matter is set out in Garth Wattley’s “Tale of a Terrific Tiger” (Express, Wednesday May 27). In a fine, balanced piece that gives the one-time West Indies captain his due while also giving the full context, the Express Sports Editor writes, “Shiv’s sense of timing of a cricket ball was one of his assets but when it comes to knowing when it was time to go, his timing was way off.”

In “Daunting challenge from Aussies,” a weekend piece assessing the imminent tour (Sunday Express, May 24), Tony Cozier, dean of West Indian cricket writers, had referred en passant to “The inevitable decline, at 40, of the ever dependable Shivnarine Chanderpaul, repeated saviour of lost causes…”:

In the same paper two days later, under the unequivocal headline “Time betrays Chanderpaul,” Cozier added this, “(In) 11 innings in three Tests each in South Africa and England in the Caribbean, (…) he was just a sad shadow of a batsman who has been the most immovable object in the game.”

Photo: International cricket analyst and former West Indies legend Michael Holding. (Courtesy Telegraph.co.uk)
Photo: International cricket analyst and former West Indies legend Michael Holding.
(Courtesy Telegraph.co.uk)

Michael Holding, Bryan Davis, Tony Gray and Michael Findlay all agree that Shivnarine Chanderpaul can no longer command a place on the best team although the former WI wicketkeeper feels that, his decline notwithstanding, the veteran’s experience might well prove useful, indispensable even, against the battle-hardened Aussies.

But really, I am no longer listening to any arguments, I have lost all interest in the details.

In my head, I hear CLR James asking in Beyond a Boundary “What know they of cricket who only cricket know?”

And I am thinking not of Shivnarine Chanderpaul but of the cricket/culture matrix. What is it that has so blighted us old colonials that, blessed with abundant talent, we so often shift the focus in other directions?

I think of how Indian authorities bent over backwards to extend the careers of first Sunil Gavaskar and later Sachin Tendulkar so that they could achieve personal milestones. Gavaskar retired a few months short of his 38th birthday, making scores of 74, 5, 91, 0, 24, 63, 21 and 96 in his last eight innings after back-to-back centuries versus Australia in October and versus Sri Lanka in December of 1986.

Tendulkar’s retirement came in November of 2013 after 23 Tests in which he posted eight scores over 50 but never quite managed a century.

Photo: India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot in an ODI against England. (Copyright AFP 2014/Prakash Singh)
Photo: India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot in an ODI against England.
(Copyright AFP 2014/Prakash Singh)

I think of the South Africans’ handing the leadership mantle over to a green 22-year-old who would remain in charge for more than a decade, during which time he quite transformed the Proteas’ international fortunes.

Despite three bites of the cherry, our own prodigy only managed “moderate success, devastating failures.”

I think of  Aussie skipper Mark Taylor who, ending the day on 334 not out versus Pakistan in Peshawar in October 1998, declared the innings closed because he did not think it was appropriate for anyone, certainly not an Australian, to surpass the Don.

Not for the first time, I ask myself whether as, unbeaten on 320, our gifted almost 25-year-old left-hander retired for the night on April 17, 1994, the issue of being worthy enough to claim Gary Sobers’ record ever arose.

I think of a frightening story told me by the late West Indies off-spinner Jack Noreiga who, selected ahead of his ageing but long-serving rival on the side to face India in Jamaica in 1971, faced violent reaction in the dressing-room.

Ramnarine might have raised it for the wrong reasons, I think, but is it not true that the WICB has often failed to do right by those who have served us long and/or well on the field of play? Andy Ganteaume, Deryck Murray, Sir Garry, IVA Richards, Desmond Haynes and Tony Gray all come readily to mind…

Photo: Former West Indies cricket great Brian Lara at work. (Courtesy Guardian.com)
Photo: Former West Indies cricket great Brian Lara at work.
(Courtesy Guardian.com)

And, of course, Lara. The multiple record-holder was just 47 runs shy of the then magical 12,000-run mark when he jumped into retirement to avoid being pushed.

He was just over 37 years old and had made two double-centuries, two centuries and a half-century in the last year, with his last ten scores being 120, 10, 19, 26, 11, 61, 122, 216, 0 and 49.

So I rest my case by saying that, much as I liked, admired and respected Shivnarine Chanderpaul, I think it is fair that he will finish short of Lara’s mark.

The public record is there to show that I have repeatedly disapproved of and criticised the Prince of Port-of-Spain for his many “indiscretions.” But I have no doubt that, barring Sobers, he more than anyone else deserves to be at the top of the West Indian batting heap.

Indeed, as my friend Frank Hernandez has already convincingly argued in these pages, he has a real claim to being the best batsman the game has known.

And without taking anything away from the doughty left-hander with the crab-like stance, without underestimating or in any way underplaying his hugely valuable contribution to West Indies cricket, I say without fear of successful contradiction that nowhere on any objective shortlist of the best batsmen the world has known will you find the name Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Photo: Cricket icons (from left) Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sachin Tendulkar.
Photo: Cricket icons (from left) Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sachin Tendulkar.

WI 1st Test squad: Denesh Ramdin (Capt.), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Rajindra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor.

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About Earl Best

Earl Best taught cricket, French, football and Spanish at QRC for many years and has written consistently for the Tapia and the Trinidad and Tobago Review since the 1970's. He is also a former sports editor at the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express and is now a senior lecturer in Journalism at COSTAATT.

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116 comments

  1. I don’t mind not picking the ipl guys because I don’t think they are dedicated to playing test cricket. When last those guys played first class cricket? Good talents but not sure about their genuine desire

  2. Folks how many first class hundreds blackwood has? How many holder had but they are producing not so? We are looking at the future

  3. Prince Borde Gayle could be excused because he did say at end of world cup that his back wasn’t strong enough to play test vs England. But i have a strong suspicion Lloyd & co didn’t make a effort to seek his availability for this test before he started his county T20 stint for Somerset.

    If Narine action is fine now, why not pick him. Queen’s Park have this weekend in their game vs Merry Boys.

    Bravo has said he is open to playing tests again – the team is unbalanced without an all-rounder.

  4. How could he when he played so many more innings to get there.

  5. Even if Chanderpaul broke Lara’s record, according to the columnist, he would never be mentioned in the same breath as him anyway

  6. “I think Chanderpaul should have a testimonial. But I don’t agree with him having an official Test match for that purpose. (…) we can book a stadium and have him assemble an all-star cast of great players and have a wonderful send off.”
    Thumbs up, Lasana! It would be nothing short of churlish to disagree.

  7. Lasana Liburd no where close to Lara’s too. Lara was actually in some form lol

  8. Colin Benjamin, Earl Best gave Tendulkar’s final figures as an Indian cricketer. Chanderpaul’s scores don’t come close.

  9. Juliet, Chanders is not “fighting for recognition against the odds;” he is fighting against the odds for a record which, for me, is unforgivable. His contribution over the 21 years has been truly immense. I’m sorry. Having played 164 Tests and scored almost 12,000 runs, you really have nothing to prove to anyone.

  10. Colin Benjamin I think it was too quick of a turnover. Gayle is in form but can he field for 5 days? Even Andre Russell is in form

  11. Yea picking Chandrika is shocking. The real story isn’t Chanderpaul not picked IMO – its that selectors didn’t make a bigger effort to include Gayle and Narine and talk DW Bravo out of retirement to play in this series.

  12. San I think Simmons should have been picked to replace Chanders

  13. Also people should recall this excellent Fazeer Mohammed article from 2013 about the real reasons why Tendulkar even got a farewell series

    http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Players-in-a–BCCI-pappyshow-231381721.html

  14. Well as Tony Cozier said this week, Lloyd has always been one to not let sentiment get in the way of promoting youth. Which is a good trait, but really, I don’t see how Chandrika can be seen as a long-term replacement for Shiv. He has yet to hit a FC 100 in his career. If there was a young batsman scoring runs for fun at First Class level then by all means, replace Shiv asap. But currently nobody is doing such, and therefore I believe Shiv deserved a chance in this Test.

  15. This is a tough argument. Would Chanders be angry he got dropped if he had already beaten Lara’s record? I am sure he would have not said a word

  16. Akins Vidale, last year there was a retirement match for Chris Birchall and Carlos Edwards. Only Carlos didn’t want to be retired and took it as insult.
    So coach Stephen Hart apologized to Carlos and then never picked him again. The point is retirements can be messy. I don’t blame just the coach for that.

  17. Akins Vidale, last year there was a retirement match for Chris Birchall and Carlos Edwards. Only Carlos didn’t want to be retired and took it as insult.
    So coach Stephen Hart apologized to Carlos and then never picked him again. The point is retirements can be messy. I don’t blame just the coach for that.

  18. San Toki But that’s the thing, no way could the selectors have told him before England series that this was last series.

    When he failed vs S Africa, that was like his first bad series he had averaged under 40 since the 2010/11 tour to Sri Lanka. At that point people began to whisper – keep an eye on his form due to his age.

    He made runs Guyana in the super50 as they reached final and won regional 4-day – people were then saying Shiv is fine.

    But as the failures became worse during England tests, I would say even up until last innings in Barbados more people and i believe even selectors were of the view – “Given his record lets give him one last innings to make runs”.

    I’d bet it was Chanderpaul instead of Blackwood making those runs to win the test vs England – we would not have had this debate now.

  19. I am concerned though that it is now personal and not about team with Chanders. Is the team best interest at heart or is he only concerned with passing Lara? Did it ever cross his mind like Best suggested to retire short of Lara out of respect? We have seen Chanders propping up the non-strikers end while Lara batted into cricket folklore. To retire purposefully short would not bring his career, achievement or talent into focus. In fact to retire and express the desire to not pass Lara would have lifted him higher than he could ever imagine..

  20. Shiv is retiring having lost more tests than anybody in the history of the game and in danger of losing his +50 avg. WI are not likely to beat Oz with him so might as well build for the future now instead of two tests down the road.

  21. I think the new coach was diplomatic enough to not drop Chanderpaul as his 1st order of business thus he was kept for the England series before an assessment was made. Simmons then spoke with him and told him to do the honorable thing and retire. He didn’t. Thus all the bacchanal now. It gives credence to those who say his batting is selfish and not in the teams interest.

  22. I agree. A 40 year old can’t play the same way as he did in his prime. 20 years of cricket is a long time and he has had his success. Maybe I am thinking that Chanders in four more innings can’t make WI cricket great again. Maybe I am thinking he certainly can’t make it any worse either..

  23. What this comes down to ultimately is WICB/Selector incompetence: OK if they don’t feel Shiv is an asset to the team anymore, then the logical thing to do would be to have told him the series vs ENG could potentially be his last if form doesn’t improve. Suprising such a legendary player with the news he will be dropped days before a Test is not respectful nor the right way to have approached the matter.

  24. The selectors and Simmons took the safe option really. Its very possible C’Paul could have defied doubters of his form and if picked scored runs. But if they had picked him & he continued his poor form vs a very strong AUS attack – it would have been an undignified end.

  25. Kirk A Inniss after blackwood performance against england the question about talent being around should not arise!! Shiv averaged 16 in eleven innings be real and think about it thats a long enough run!!

  26. Lasana Liburd my own view on this is whethet or not Chanders wanted this last series before or after he got dropped. I am not convinced that he was keen on retirement. He should have had this discussion with management at the start of he year given prior knowledge of the schedule. His exit could have been done better but it should be done.

  27. The fact is that he is 40 going on 41 ! Time for him to go. He’s not batting like he used to.

  28. Yeah I am evenly divided on this. The arguments can work both ways. Chanders has been such a loyal warrior that to omit him from the team seems unfair. I do understand of course that he should not take up space on a team on the merit of who he is alone. But let’s be real. There is such a fantastic crop of current players that Chanders will be denying a good player a spot? Yeah? And let’s be real a little further: Teams do pick players on the merit of their name and past achievements..

  29. In my opinion, if Chanderpaul’s experience was deemed to be an asset for West Indies, then Phil Simmons would have picked him.

  30. It’s a tough debate. On the one hand I agree with the sentiment that Shiv is being very narrow-minded in his refusal to retire in pursuit of the 12,000 run Holy Grail. However, based on the fact that WI lacks experience, I would have put him in vs Aus and made it clear it was his last test, he would have risen to the occasion. What will happen now is Chandrika/Dowrich will come in for Shiv, be decimated by an Aussie bowling attack, and probably be dropped indefinitely from WI. I’d have let Shiv bat this out and his replacement to be eased in the next WI tour which is against Zim

  31. The key part IMO:

    ““At the conclusion of the series,” his statement said, “it would give me an opportunity to thank the WI public and the Board for all the opportunities. It may also be an occasion for the WICB to recognize me for my long and dedicated service.

    “It would be a good send-off after dedicating 21 years of my life to WI cricket.”

    “Say what?” I ask myself, cringing. “Is the Tiger for real?”

    But he is not done; there is more.

    “My request to finish up with the Australian series is not asking too much. It gives me a chance to acknowledge my supporters at home and the possibility of the WICB properly honouring me for my contribution to WI cricket. I should not be pushed into retirement.”

    Take dat in allyuh rookoongkertoongkoong. I wonder what Minister Roopnaraine thinks of “dignified” now.”

    Shiv should have known the Barbados test was his last given his age and recent performances and should have retired, even though it wasn’t planned to let fans know. Asking to use the series vs AUS or a test to have a farewell is not in teams interest.

  32. I agree with that Juliet Solomon. Sporting officials in the Caribbean generally think they are the stars and the athletes are just lucky to get a sweat for “their” teams.

  33. I like Phil Simmons and I am a massive fan of Chanders but my point is that the WICB has neither succession planning nor respect for service.

  34. I think when they hired Phil Simmons, they told him to try and win as many matches as possible. And West Indies has made a good start under its new coach.
    His professional opinion should count.

  35. Totally agreed lasana that was my sentiments exactly!!

  36. Well written article by Earl Best.

  37. Retirement is always scary for athletes. And moreso in such a chaotic system, I’m sure.
    I do sympathise with him.
    But I was not happy to hear him try to demonise the poor coach. Phil Simmons is doing his job of picking the best possible team.

  38. All of a sudden winning is important? I think a month is worth twenty years.

  39. There should be a clear future for excellent players who have served for so long.

  40. I think Chanderpaul should have a testimonial. But I don’t agree with him having an official Test match for that purpose.
    If another player deserves the spot on merit, I think he should have it.
    And we can book a stadium and have him assemble an all-star cast of great players and have a wonderful send off.

  41. Chanders shouldn´t end as he started: fighting for recognition against the odds.

  42. I think I agree with you but I do have sympathy with Chanders because the WICB have been abysmal at recognizing their players at the appropriate time. Both in terms of retaining them when that had runs left in them (Haynes) and when they are on the way out. And remember, there is little future for ex-players at home. Unlike in other cricket jurisdictions. It is a matter of showing respect throughout.

  43. Lol. Can’t remember your specific comments on Jack.

  44. Thanks my brother! U know u is d last sports reporter but i know a thing or two!! Wonder if u agreed with my comments on a Jack!! Lol

  45. Dunno..
    need to think more on this

  46. I agreed with your comments about this on In Conclusion Gordon Pierre.

  47. Personally, I feel out of respect for the team you should earn your pick for an official tour match. A testimonial is a different matter but should be separate.

  48. This must have been a difficult article to write.

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