The most gratifying feature of the current encounter between the West Indies and India from the perspective of the immediate and long-term future of Caribbean cricket is probably the performance of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Eight years ago Chanderpaul, at the tender age of nineteen, made an unexpected and somewhat fortuitous entry into Test cricket against England at Bourda in place of Carl Hooper, who withdrew from the team because of a back injury. He was the ninth teenager to represent the West Indies in Test cricket and the first in 21 years, i.e. since 1973 when Elquemedo Willett of Nevis, the first Leeward Islander to play Test cricket, was selected against Australia at Kensington Oval.
Chanderpaul's Test debut at the age of 19 years 213 days made him the sixth youngest West Indian and the youngest Guyanese to play Test cricket. His selection evoked strong protests from many Trinidadians, who accused the selectors of insularity and contended that Hooper's place should have been given to Phillip Simmons. Chanderpaul, however, justified the faith of the selectors who had chosen him on the ground that he would be the next great West Indian batsman. In his first Test innings he scored an impressive half century (62 runs), the highest score by a West Indian teenager on his Test debut, surpassing the 59 runs made 55 years before by the Trinidadian opener, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, against England at Lord's in 1939.
Chanderpaul also scored a half-century in each of the three remaining Tests of the series. In the last of those innings in Antigua, he made 75 not out and was Brian Lara's final partner when he broke Garfield Sobers' world record for the highest individual score in a Test, putting on 219 runs with him for the fifth wicket. In the rubber, Chanderpaul had an aggregate of 288 runs in 6 innings, with an average of 57.60 runs an innings. He finished third in his team's batting averages, behind Lara (99.75) and Jimmy Adams (62.33), eclipsing older and more experienced players such as the skipper, Richie Richardson, Desmond Haynes and Keith Arthurton.
Chanderpaul's excellent performance evoked glowing praise from the renowned Wisden Cricketers' Almanack which commented thus: "Shivnarine Chanderpaul, still in his teens....made a half-century in each of his first four Tests, batting with startling maturity. He does not have the flair or range of his fellow left-hander Lara, but he could be the glue in the West Indian middle order for many years."
This was the beginning of a Test career distinguished initially by the virtues of consistency and productivity. It took Chanderpaul only 15 Tests and 23 innings to reach the landmark of 1000 Test runs, which included 11 half-centuries and was achieved with an average of 52.63 runs an innings. No Guyanese cricketer, not even Rohan Kanhai, the finest batsman produced by Guyana, had accomplished as much as Chanderpaul so early in his career.
By that time, namely, early in 1997, the only blot on his international record was his failure to make a Test hundred, his highest score being 82 which he had achieved on two occasions in 1996, firstly against New Zealand at Kensington Oval and later against Australia at Wooloongaba. He removed this blot during India's last visit to the Caribbean in 1997 in a clash which was expected to be dominated by Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, but where he proved to be the star. He scored not only his first Test hundred, 137 not out or nearly half of his team's total of 298 in the first innings of the third Test at Kensington Oval, but also his maiden one-day international century at the same venue five weeks later - 109 not out, with one six and 15 fours, off 134 balls. In the latter innings he shared an unbroken opening partnership of 200 runs with Stuart Williams, a West Indies first-wicket record in one-day international cricket.
Chanderpaul's brilliant batting was instrumental in enabling the West Indies to win the Test series by one game to nil and the limited over competition by three matches to one. He headed his team's batting averages in both contests, making 443 runs in the Tests with scores of 52 and 48, 42 and 79, 137 not out and 3, 24 and 58 not out and an impressive average of 73.83 runs an innings, leaving Lara far behind in second place with an aggregate of 391 runs and an average of 48.87. In the one-day games Chanderpaul scored 209 runs in 4 innings with an average of 69.66, followed by Stuart Williams (171 runs, average 57.00).
Once more he was lauded in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. In a review of the tour which appeared there, Tony Cozier, the Caribbean's leading cricket journalist and commentator, observed: "Chanderpaul...finally gathered the Test and one-day hundreds that had so long eluded him, maintaining his consistency while adding power and range to his strokeplay. He was unchallenged as Man of the Series, an award covering both forms of the game."
By the end of that series against India five years ago Chanderpaul, though only 22 years of age, had established a reputation of being the West Indies' most reliable batsman. In 21 Test he had scored 1464 runs, including one hundred and 14 half-centuries, at an average of 54.22 runs an innings. In an article written then, entitled "Shivnarine Chanderpaul Guyana's new cricket hero", this writer concluded thus: "If Chanderpaul maintains the quality and consistency of his current performance and is blessed with good health and long life, it is very likely that in his entire Test career he will score more runs not only than any previous Guyanese but also any other West Indian. In that event the career of Guyana's new cricket hero will be truly historic."
After India's tour of 1997, however, Chanderpaul's performances declined in terms of both consistency and productivity. This was clearly the case later in the year in Pakistan, where the West Indies team experienced the first of several humiliating "whitewashes" which it has suffered overseas in recent years. In the three-match series there in November and December 1997, Chanderpaul made only 153 runs in 6 innings, with one good score (95 in the second Test at Rawalpindi) and a poor average of 25.50 runs an innings. Other unsatisfactory performances followed - with series averages of 34.00 against England in the Caribbean in 1998 and 26.60 against South Africa in the West Indies' historic initial tour there in 1998-99, when he had scores of 74 and 1, 4 and 16, 4 and 75, 6 and 5, and 38 and 43.
This marked decline in reliability and productivity is clearly evident in the statistical record for the five years between the last and current tours by India of the Caribbean. In this period Chanderpaul in 52 innings in 30 Tests scored only 1470 runs, with a very moderate average of 30 runs an innings. In these 52 knocks he made only one hundred and nine half-centuries. His career test average, which was an impressive 52 in mid 1997, fell to 38.60 by the time of the recent arrival of Saurav Ganguly's team. Chanderpaul's visible decline can be attributed to at least three main factors - personal problems, the opposition's exploitation of technical flaws, and injury. His personal problems centred around distraction and a loss of discipline as he struggled to cope with the pressures which stemmed from the fame and attention which he gained from his initial success.
Secondly, increasing scrutiny revealed weaknesses in his defensive technique which opposing bowlers have managed to exploit. In particular, his tendency to shuffle across the wicket rather than play far forward made him vulnerable (especially by lbw dismissals) to well-pitched, late swing, bowling. This was first evident in Pakistan in 1997, when in three of his six Tests innings he was dismissed lbw to Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis. As the Trinidadian commentator, Fazeer Mohamed, observed in his review of the tour: "Shivnarine Chanderpaul came within five runs of a century in the Second Test yet contributed precious little otherwise. So successful against India in the Caribbean earlier in the year, Chanderpaul found the late swing of Pakistan's pace bowlers an almost insurmountable hurdle."
Finally, Chanderpaul's performance has been adversely affected by recurrent injury, which has not only made him miss matches and entire Test series, but also disrupted his form, sometimes jeopardising his regular place in the team. This first occurred in 1997, when a neck injury made him miss the short series against the visiting Sri Lankans. Similarly, a shoulder injury prevented him from playing against Australia two years later. Furthermore, in 2000, after playing in one or two Tests with a measure of success against England and Australia, tendonitis of the right elbow and then a stress fracture of the left foot ruled him out of the remainder of the series.
Though relatively fit, Chanderpaul, somewhat surprisingly, was not selected for the first three Tests of the following series against the visiting South Africans, preference being showed for the promising but inexperienced 20-year-old Jamaican, Marlon Samuels. When he was finally included in the team for the last two Tests of the series, Chanderpaul had scores of 40 and 16, and 7 and 7 - a total of only 70 runs in 4 innings for a meagre average of 17.50 runs an innings. He finished a lowly and uncharacteristic seventh in the team's batting averages, behind Ridley Jacobs, Lara, Carl Hooper, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Samuels.
In short, in recent years Chanderpaul, plagued by injury, lack of fitness and loss of form and confidence, has often been missing from the regional team and has done little of note. In his last seven Tests before the current Indian tour, he scored 332 runs in 12 innings with an average of only 30, causing his career Test average to drop below 40 for the first time, from 40.03 runs an innings to 38.60.
His brilliant performance in the current series constituted a major reversal of fortune. This remarkable resurgence will be examined fully in the second instalment of this article.
The most striking feature of the recently concluded Test series between the West Indies and India was the consistently productive batting of Shivnarine Chanderpaul who earned the Man-of-the-series award. In seven innings, in which he exhibited good concentration and impeccable strokeplay and judgement, Chanderpaul amassed 562 runs at an astonishing average of 140.50 runs an innings. He had the best batting average on either side and his aggregate was surpassed only by that of Carl Hooper, who scored 579 runs with an average of 82.72.
Chanderpaul's masterly performance was a surprise, for it came in the wake of a long period of very moderate achievement, which was in stark contrast to the tremendous success of the initial phase of his Test career. As the first instalment of this article pointed out, since 1997 Chanderpaul's performance has declined considerably. Whereas until then on the average he made a half-century once in every two innings, in the following five years he achieved this once in every five to six innings.
In this latter period he scored only about 30 runs an innings in Tests, causing his career Test average to fall from 54 to 38 at the time of the recent arrival in the Caribbean of Saurav Ganguly's team.
Before the beginning of this Test series, Chanderpaul expressed concern that his average had fallen below 40 for the first time in his career. Fit and focused, the 27-year-old veteran, who had missed 17 Tests in the last three years owing to injury, proceeded to produce a performance which has lifted his career Test average from 38.60 to 43.70 runs an innings.
A batsman, who had scored only two centuries in 85 innings in 51 previous Test appearances, made three hundreds in seven innings in the five-match series.
This was nothing less than a remarkable resurgence. Its significance, especially in the context of Chanderpaul's career and the history of Guyanese in Test cricket, will be examined in the remainder of this article.
Chanderpaul's batting against India recently was by far the best performance of his career. He surpassed his previous best series aggregate, 443 runs (average 73.83), achieved against India in the Caribbean in 1997, when he made his maiden Test hundred, 137 not out at Kensington Oval. He also eclipsed his best series average of 130.00 in the short rubber against New Zealand in 1995, when he scored 61 not out and 69 in his two innings. His knock of 140 in the recent Test at Bourda is, in fact, his highest score in career, following a similar achievement in New Zealand in 1995, against India in 1997 and in Australia last year.
His aggregate of 562 runs against Ganguly's team was the eighth occasion that a Guyanese had scored over 500 runs in a Test series, a feat performed thrice by Rohan Kanhai and once by Alvin Kallicharran, Roy Fredericks, Clive Lloyd, and Carl Hooper (earlier in the series).
However, Lloyd with 636 runs against India in 1974-75 including his best Test score of 242 not out, continues to hold the record for the highest aggregate by a Guyanese in a Test series.
Chanderpaul may have deprived Lloyd of the honour of having the most consistent performance by a Guyanese in a Test series, with his recent scores of 140, 1 and 67 not out, 136 not out, and 58 and 59. The only occasion he was dismissed for less that 50 was when he was adjudged lbw to Javagal Srinath for a single in the second Test, a decision which television replays showed was an umpiring error, for the ball was pitched outside the leg stump. Lloyd, however, is still the only Guyanese to have scored at least a half-century in every innings of a Test series - 64, 100 and 66, 58 and 95 against England in the Caribbean in 1981.
Chanderpaul's phenomenal average of 140.50 in the recent series is the highest by a Guyanese in Test cricket. It was only the fifth occasion that a Guyanese batsman had obtained an average of over 100 in a Test series. This commendable feat was first performed by a Guyanese in 1958-59 in India, where Joe Solomon also created history by becoming the first Guyanese to top the West Indies Test batting averages, scoring 351 runs in six innings with an average of 117 runs an innings. Solomon's example was later followed by Kallicharran (an average of 109.50 in his maiden Test series against New Zealand in 1972 and 125.50 against Pakistan in 1975) and Chanderpaul (130.00 in New Zealand in 1995).
Only three West Indians have achieved a better series average than Chanderpaul - Jimmy Adams, 173.33 in India in 1994, and Frank Worrell and John Goddard, 147.00 respectively against England in 1948 and New Zealand in 1956, all three rubbers of less than five games. In short, Chanderpaul has the best batting average by a West Indian in a five-match Test series, eclipsing the 137.33 runs an innings accomplished by Garfield Sobers against Pakistan in 1958.
Chanderpaul also achieved other records during his brilliant series against India.
He and Hooper became the first Guyanese to score as many as three centuries in a Test series, surpassing the two hundreds made by Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Fredericks, Kallicharran and Lloyd. They also shared the highest partnership by two Guyanese batsmen in Test cricket when they put together 293 runs for the fifth wicket at Bourda in the first Test. The only Guyanese who has been involved in a bigger Test partnership is Kallicharran (97) who shared a third-wicket stand of 303 with Vivian Richards (232) against England at Nottingham in 1976. The 293-run partnership by Chanderpaul and Hooper broke the existing West Indian record for the fifth wicket against India - 219 runs by another Guyanese, Bruce Pairaudeau (115) and the Barbadian, Everton Weekes (207) at the Queen's Park Oval in 1953. It is, in fact, the second largest fifth-wicket partnership in West Indian Test cricket, eclipsed only by the 322 run-stand three year ago at Sabina Park by Brian Lara (213) and Adams (94) against Australia.
Chanderpaul's three big partnerships with Hooper - 293, 215 and 186 - may be the first occasion that the same two West Indian batsmen were involved in three substantial stands in a Test series. His four "not outs" were only the third occasion in the long history of West Indian Test cricket that opposing bowlers have been unable to dismiss a specialist batsman on so many occasions in a series. This occurred first in 1931 with the captain, the Trinidadian, George Grant, in the West Indies' initial encounter with Australia and then forty years later in the Caribbean against India in 1971, when another Trinidadian, Charlie Davis, had four "not outs" in eight innings, scoring 529 runs with a highest score of 125 not out and an average of 132.25. Like Chanderpaul, Grant and Davis, also middle-order batsmen, topped the team's batting averages.
Chanderpaul's recent performance against India was record-breaking in many ways, in terms of not only his own career, but also the history of Guyanese in Test cricket and West Indies Test cricket in general. It constituted a truly remarkable and historic resurgence.