Shiv Now World Best Cricketer

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Dear Editor,
Many will wish to celebrate Guyanese and West Indian batting star Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s achievement for reaching the pinnacle of Test cricket by becoming the first Guyanese batsman to be ranked ICC number one in Test cricket. It is said that discipline and fighting sprit are the essential qualities in any sporting exercise if one is to come out on top, and Chanderpaul displays those traits.
Chanderpaul’s entry into Test cricket represents one of those great coincidences of history. A last-minute withdrawal by Carl Hooper due to injury from the second Test match, England versus the West Indies, at the evergreen Bourda, saw then West Indies coach Rohan Kanhai, captain Richie Richardson and the late Roy Fredricks, then a member of the West Indies selection panel, opting for Shivnarine Chanderpaul as the replacement rather than Phil Simmons. There was some resentment from some other selectors especially, Joey Carew, chairman of the selection panel, but the Chanderpaul selection prevailed, and as CLR James would argue it is “Cricket beyond the boundary.”
I was present at Bourda on that fateful Saturday morning in March 1994 when debutant Chanderpaul walked out on the lush Bourda outfield to thunderous applause to face Chris Lewis, a Guyanese-born English fast bowler. He never let those who stood for him down. He scored 63 and remained consistent throughout the Test series, with three other half centuries at a critical time of the West Indies innings. No one will ever forget the last Test match in St Johns, Antigua, when Chanderpaul batted through with Brian Lara as he broke the world batting record of Sir Garfield Sobers.
The recent series against Australia gave full evidence of the determination and strength of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. When the Australians rocked the West Indies, it was only the Guyanese Tiger that hunted the Kangaroos. It took a controversial LBW decision to eventually get him out in the last Test match. At present Chandrapaul follows Brian Lara and Vivian Richards with the third highest Test aggregate in the West Indies. History has once again repeated itself with a Guyanese cricketer placing Guyana on the map of the world. Internationally, Guyana has now become synonymous with the name Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Hail the Tiger, now the world’s best.
Yours faithfully,
Rajendra Rampersaud.

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WELCOME HOME CHAMP’: There was revelry at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri as Guyanese gathered there as well as along the EAST BANK road to welcome home Guyana and West Indies batting superstar Shivnarine Chanderpaul yesterday.(See coverage on the sports page

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Hero’s welcome for Chanderpaul
Stories by Marlon Munroe
THERE was revelry at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, as Guyanese gathered there as well as along the East Bank road to welcome home Shivnarine Chanderpaul yesterday.

Top Athletes! Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony poses with Guyana’s top male and female sports personalities Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Alika Morgan in the arrival lounge of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Timehri. (Adrian Narine photo)

Chanderpaul was named the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) cricketer of the year.

He was also the recipient of the West Indies Players’ Association Player-of-the-year award and for the fifth successive year Guyana’s Sportsman-of-the-year accolade.

Chanderpaul, who has been the rock of the West Indian batting lineup for the past three years will be awarded on Friday evening at the National Cultural Centre.

Chanderpaul, who is revered for his dogged determination and his extensive spells of concentration made his debut in 1994 against England. To date, he has played 119 matches, amassing 8 502 runs at an average of 50.01 with 21 centuries and 52 half-centuries and 32 not-out innings.

‘Tiger’, as he is called, also has the distinction of having three 1 000-minute vigils at the crease without being dismissed - the highest being over 1 500 minutes. Chanderpaul has been noted to ‘grind’ opposing bowlers’ patience thin especially if it meant ensuring a win for the West Indies team.

Chanderpaul stated that it was an honour to be awarded by the ICC for his achievement. He stated that he has worked very hard over the years for his team and he also feels good that he can please the fans of WI cricket.

In the recently concluded Digicel Test Series Chanderpaul scored 299 runs at an average of 48.66, and his highest score was 104. Poor umpiring decisions also can be used for his poor showing in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony stated that he was pleased that the ICC recognised Chanderpaul for his great achievement. He went on to state that Guyana and the Government are pleased to have such a sportsman as a great ambassador.

“Chanderpaul has put Guyana on the map and it shows that if people work hard then they can achieve anything and I would therefore like to commend him for his dedication and discipline,” the Minister explained.

The minister was also loud in his praise of another prolific Guyanese batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan who produced some classy knocks in the tournament and in the lone Twenty20 game of the series.

“I’m proud of our Guyanese and West Indies in particular and since Sarwan has been in rich form throughout the tournament I hope he continues to bat the way he is doing at the moment,” Minister Anthony said glowingly.

Sarwan has amassed 626 runs at an average of 104.33 with his highest score being 291.

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Ian On Sunday
By Ian McDonald | March 15, 2009 in Features, Sunday

Faithful to the cause


I venture to suggest that there is no West Indian cause so sacred as the success of the West Indies cricket team.
It is important to be the best in the world – at cricket as at anything else. It is simplistic and shallow-minded to say or think that cricket is just a game and therefore to lead the way in it means little. Economic or military success is not everything in history, just as material well-being and the exercise of power are not all that matter to people. It means a great deal to be a cultural leader in the world – in the arts, in literature, music, theatre, architecture, style and fashion, scholarship – and in cricket which, as much as any game, represents an international cultural experience of abiding significance. To lead in cricket gives us stature in the world. Pride and self-confidence grow as we prevail among the best anywhere. It is an important part of nationhood.
In the writing of WB Yeats there is a wonderfully eloquent phrase; he speaks of “a community bound together by imaginative possessions.” Yeats used this phrase in the context of discussing the importance of a National Theatre for his beloved Ireland.
When I think of cricket and the hope of West Indian nationhood the phrase strikes with me a chord that sings. So little binds us together, but cricket does. Economically, we are much divided and increasingly seem tempted to go our separate ways. Politically, we remain deeply suspicious of each other and therefore cannot summon the will to come together in the many ways we must know are necessary for practical nationhood. But cricket! There we are different and better and more confident and more together! Truly it is supremely the one imaginative possession which binds our community together.
Our recent Test series win against England, which meant that we retrieved the Wisden Trophy which had gone missing in a foreign land for a long and sad decade, was deeply important to our national psyche. Things are not going well for us in the region.
The world financial catastrophe is catching up with us. The debris of world-wide greed, mismanagement and criminal fraud is washing up on our shores. Economies are under siege. Morale is sinking lower. The project of closer West Indian unity is faltering badly. This West Indian victory, therefore, could not have come at a better time for lifting our spirits and for bolstering our loyalty to something larger and more important than our absorption in self or commitment to differently located countries.
This victory over the old original foe was infinitely more important than just another win-tick in the result records of the game. No ordinary sport this – a nation’s pride and glory was at stake.
So hail the team that did this great deed for us. Hail cool, charismatic Chris Gayle and all his men. Hail Shiv Chanderpaul who for years has been the best batsman in the world and our last resort against ignominy and disaster, and in this series again played three long and vital innings which went far in saving the games we saved. Hail Ronny Sarwan, who came wonderfully good at last, player of the series, back to his smooth-stroking and brilliant best.
Hail Jerome Taylor who won that first Test with a burst of passion and fast bowling reminding us of our great and glorious fast men of yesteryear, bringing us to our feet shouting! Hail Brendan Nash, his eyes widening with utmost concentration every shot he played, who stuck there so often when it mattered. Hail Denesh Ramdin who broadened his shoulders with the burden of the vice-captaincy and at last brought his batting to the level all teams need in a wicket-keeper.
Hail to them all – heroes we need, heroes who make us feel better in a bad time, heroes who hold together our dream of West Indian brotherhood.
But, at the last, I want to single out for fervent, heartfelt praise and thanks the man whose name was indeed synonymous with his role in the series. Fidel Edwards, faithful to our West Indian cause at the last gasp twice – and he had done it too in a previous series, defiant, brave, unbeaten to the end.
Now he bowled fiercely and unluckily – but it was not so much that, it was his role as Thermopylean tail-ender that mattered.
One could hardly bear to watch, my hands grew cold as ice as they always do when West Indies battle at the brink, as twice ball after nerve-frenzied ball, with a vociferous crowd of Englishmen vulturing near his bat, he defended and pushed forward and back, stern and stalwart at the crease, and kept out ball after agonizing ball as time slowed and slowed to torture us, until at last he stunned the leaping ball one last time and we had drawn and won triumphantly. Fidel Edwards – your name and deeds go way beyond statistics in the book.