A salute to Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the great rearguard batsman

SHIV, THE LAST MAN STANDING

Twenty-one years now, since Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s first Test. England, at the Bourda in Georgetown, 17 March 1994. West Indies were then still the No1 team in the world, and to stay so for another 12 months, till their watershed loss to Australia the following spring. Opening the batting, Desmond Haynes, playing in his 113th Test, and Richie Richardson, in his 74th. Opening the bowling, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. Alongside the young Chanderpaul in the middle order, Brian Lara – soon to break Garry Sobers’ record Test score – and Jimmy Adams, early in the purple patch of form that saw him average 70 in his first 20 Tests. Another era altogether then, one when the West Indies, while waning, still played with some of the fire and brilliance that had made them one of the greatest teams in history.
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