West Indies' Wastefulness an Insult to Shivnarine Chanderpaul
By Antoinette Muller , Featured Columnist Jan 5, 2015
Every so often, Shivnarine Chanderpaul is accused of being a selfish player. Not so much because he bats so slowly, but often because he does not like to hog the strike when the team is in trouble.
Sometimes, instead of guarding tailenders from the barrage of aggressive bowling, Chanderpaul would trust them to hold their own and look on watchfully from the other end.
It is, however, hard to blame Chanderpaul for perhaps thinking of only himself once in a while. For the last five years, he has been one of the West Indies’ most consistent players.
Since the start of 2009, not once has he gone three consecutive Tests without scoring 35 in at least one innings. He's averaged 59.53 in the same time period and has scored 10 hundreds and 16 half-centuries. It is therefore understandable that, sometimes, Chanderpaul just wants to catch a break.
On the current tour of South Africa, that has not been an option for him. While he struggled in the first and second Test, he dug in for a half century in the second innings in Cape Town. After most of day four was lost due to rain, Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels eventually got together for an 87-run stand. For a short period of time, the West Indies looked as though they might just challenge South Africa and push them out of their comfort zone.
Then it happened. The inevitable collapse which has been the hallmark of this tour for the visitors. Samuels threw his wicket away, frustrated at scoring just four runs off 28 balls—he holed off Simon Harmer and Dean Elgar took a good catch running in from mid-on. And, just like that, it all came crashing down.
The tourists lost seven wickets for just 33 runs. It echoed both of the previous Tests. In Centurion, they lost six wickets for just 39 runs. In Port Elizabeth, five wickets fell for 15 runs. In the first innings at Cape Town, four wickets were plucked out for 30 runs.
“Samuels' wicket the turning point. Gives it away far too frequently for a man of his experience; the difference between good & great. #SAvWI
— Gareth Allison (@garethisatwit) January 5, 2015â€
In all those instances, the wickets mostly fell to wastefulness. In all of those instances, Chanderpaul, West Indies' loyal servant, must have been watching on in sheer frustration. The lack of responsibility from senior players, such as Samuels, is an insult to players like Chanderpaul, who has spent so many years trying to raise West Indies cricket out of the doldrums.
On this tour, the West Indies have shown glimpses of promise. There were two centurions in the rained-out Test in PE, and in Cape Town, three players managed to score 50 in the first innings. That nobody managed to go on and get a big score is shameful, silly and insulting to a player like Chanderpaul who has done so much for the game in the Caribbean.
The saying goes that world cricket is better when the Windies are competitive. It has become quite clear on this tour that, while the current squad has something about them, they remain immature.
If a player of Chanderpaul’s stature cannot inspire at least an inkling of logic to their approach, then perhaps nothing ever will.
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