The work-ant

I am used to watch exciting batsmen from the West Indies, batsmen who used to trigger thrill and chill amongst the spectators with strokes of high pedigree. It would consist of flavors of a murder with poetry in motion. The Caribbean batsmen whom I have grown up watching never triggered boredom and people who paid money to watch them had their money worth it. 

But Shivnarine Chanderpaul as a Caribbean batsman is totally un-Caribbean. He lacks the killer instincts, the care-a-dam attitude and the poetic expression in his batting.

But he’s a Caribbean king of different quality.

In this age of T20 cricket you won’t wish to pay a dollar to watch his batting. But hey listen! You can bet on him not losing his wickets. He is the very antagonist of Caribbean elegance and flair but even a drone attack will not deter him from his job.

 While he use walk towards the wicket to bat you won’t find any sort of Caribbean daringness like those of Richards, Sobers or Headly or any prince like elegance like that of Brian Lara. He just fails to attract your attention.

With short and sharp steps lacking any grace he walks towards the wicket and then takes his bizarre open-chested stance with his leg-stump exposed. You would feel that someone from a different planet has come to bat on earth to put a nail on the head of the purists.

But when the bowler releases the ball you would be guessing that this guy is a player of unique talent. Very swiftly he will shuffle across the wicket and get himself in the best of positions to play his shots – he simply middles the ball with perfection, a divine quality which has made him one of the best in the business.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul entered into the West Indies side when the Caribbean team were still the best in the world. But a year after his debut the Caribbean glory started to gather rust and in course of time he found himself in a team which was simply a shadow of the past – he now remains the best student in a school where majority are students of poor quality.

For more than a decade he was overshadowed by the brightness of Brian Lara but despite Lara’s individual brilliances, Chanderpaul’s contributions remained critical in posting good totals for the West Indies if not victories. Brian Lara left the scene and Chanderpaul became the backbone of the West Indian batting line up. And time and again he has proved himself as the last man standing while the others use to fail on a regular basis.

Very recently Chanderpaul has entered the unique 10,000 runs club in Test cricket. In this age of heavy metal music, Chanderpaul achieved this unique feat with the beats of classic music. Hard-work, sheer will-power and strong determination has been the key to Chanderpaul’s success.

Being a Caribbean cricket follower he’s not my favorite batsman but you can’t just take your eyes off him. At the crease he generates a certain amount of cool and composed thrill which a Laxman and Dravid used to generate. There is no thrilling ride but there is a certain amount of composure which drives one to watch him.

To maintain one’s self standard remarkably high despite the continuous problems in the cricket board is an indication of one’s sound self-understanding and self-consciousness. Over the years the WICB has been involved in all sorts of troubles but still Chanderpaul is seen to maintain his own game and self-integrity uniquely.

Over the last ten years one will hardly find a lean patch in Chanderpaul’s career. Continuously Chanderpaul has been producing runs for his team. With Chris Gayle being busy in driving a crazy money train, Chanderpaul chose to contribute for his country and his contributions have been immense as he has neutralized bowling attacks in all countries and all conditions often with minimal or no support at all from the other end.

In the recent series against Australia this year, Chanderpaul scored respectively; 103 not out, 12, 94, 68 and 69 with an aggregate of 346 in five innings. He carried his sound form in the Test series against England where at Lord’s he scored 87 not out and 91. He is simply now a role model of consistency and he is scoring his runs by his Chanderpaul way which took years of sheer hard work and dedication to trap himself in the zone of consistency where there is no word call ‘Bad Patch.’

At present Chanderpaul is the number one Test batsman in the world an achievement which is apt and appropriate for him. He is now as Sharda Ugra said, ‘the last man standing of a generation whose best players have either retired or been sidelined due to age or disagreements.’

One who dares to dream the return of the golden days of West Indies cricket has to be a person of divine quality. Chanderpaul is that. He’s the Caribbean work-ant of a different class.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar