YOU often see that look. It comes after someone has just coaxed a sporting star to pose for a picture with them and, for a moment as they check out the results on the camera’s preview screen, they are little kids who have just met Father Christmas again.
That was how Graeme Welch looked last week after he had handed over a county cap to Shivnarine Chanderpaul, recognition of the little West Indian’s contribution to Derbyshire over the last two seasons.
The fact that he had, technically, been Chanderpaul’s boss for the last few months counted for nothing. Welch was genuinely in awe.
“He’s just a legend. I can’t believe there that I have presented him with his cap. Who would have thought that a few years ago?†he said. “It’s actually blown me away a little bit.
“Shiv has been brilliant in the changing room and brilliant with the lads and he’s a little genius with the bat. It’s been great to have him here.â€
Chanderpaul’s season with Derbyshire ended on Sunday when he hit the winning runs in the Royal London One-Day Cup victory at Grace Road, sharing an unbroken stand of 128 with Wayne Madsen.
Madsen scored a century in the game, his second in as many days, but he too became the little kid again when talking about the partnership that took the Falcons to victory.
“It was special for me to finish it off with him like that. It was awesome. He is just the most incredible person to bat with,†said Madsen.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it and we timed it well so that I would just get over the line with the hundred and he would just get over the line with 50.
“We didn’t really discuss it. We were out to win the game but, at the same time, I wanted him to finish off with a 50 for us. It’s nice to finish off like that.â€
Fame is a curious thing. For the most part, the star-struck hero worship state does permit a fleeting encounter with a person who is properly famous but spending any amount of time at close quarters with that person usually breaks down barriers and reminds us that the star is basically just an ordinary human being with a special talent.
In sport, there is no greater way to break down barriers than to spend six months of a cricket season practically in each other’s pockets but, clearly, this experience has enhanced the Derbyshire staff and players’ opinions of Chanderpaul rather than detracted from it.
This is not hero worship. This is affection and pure, absolute respect.
Let us remind ourselves what Chanderpaul has achieved in his cricket career.
In 20 years as an international batsman with West Indies, he has scored 11,414 runs in 156 Tests at an average of 51.88 and 8,778 runs in 268 ODIs at 41.60. In all first-class cricket, Chanderpaul has accumulated 24,181 runs at 55.08 with 69 hundreds and 124 fifties.
Only seven players in the history of the game have scored more Test runs and only five have played more Tests. Only 17 who have played 40 or more Tests have a higher average and the players beneath him on that all-time list reads like a who’s who – Ricky Ponting, Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border, Viv Richards and Denis Compton, for example.
Chanderpaul has also scored more one-day international runs and at a higher average than Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, Herschelle Gibbs, Steve Waugh, Graeme Smith – and Kevin Pietersen.
Bare numbers do command a level of respect but they are not the only reason why Chanderpaul has been such a popular member of the squad for these last two seasons.
You could never meet a more unaffected cricket star. For all he has achieved in the game, there has never been a suggestion of ego about him and, from my perspective, this has not always been a good thing.
To interview, Chanderpaul can be modest to the point of being quite a tough subject. To chat with ordinarily, he is relaxed and pleasant but he is plainly less comfortable when the voice recorder is on and all you want are a few easy quotes about a latest triumph.
You sense he would rather not do media interviews but he was never rude or deliberately awkward. Transcribing an interview could be fairly unrewarding, all the same.
As a player, Chanderpaul has a core of steel beneath that slender frame that positively hardens in the toughest situation.
He has an appetite for scoring runs, whatever the opposition and whatever the competition, that remains undimmed despite having played at such a high level for such a long time.
That is probably why he has played at such a high level for such a long time. His application not only to matches but to practice is exemplary.
Though he will be 40 next month, Chanderpaul still feels he can maintain his standards for a couple of years yet but, though the club does have an option to sign him for a third season, this may be the end of his time as a Derbyshire player.
For now, the club has made the decision to save some money this season rather than keep their most expensive player hanging around for a handful of one-day matches before he returns to the Caribbean for a Test series against Bangladesh in September.
That is a pity but it makes sense, financially. Derbyshire sometimes have to make practical decisions that come down to money.
But the players and staff will miss having him around. To them, he was not only Chanderpaul the great Test batsman, he was Shiv the great team-mate.
derbytelegraph.co.uk
