He has been inevitably overshadowed by another, more prolific and flambouyant left-hander but, in the 10 years they have spent together on the West Indies team, Shivnarine Chanderpaul's value has been no less precious than Brian Lara's.
It was never more so than over the past two days in the London sunshine as he assuredly defied England for six hours, 25 minutes for an unbeaten 128 to keep the West Indies alive in the first Test.
His eleventh Test hundred was the foundation for a spirited, if infrequent, revival from the depths of despair of the second afternoon.
It ensured that England were denied the option of the follow-on but, with the last four wickets tumbling for 17, it could not prevent a deficit of 152, still an imposing handicap.
Openers Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss comfortably extended it to 223 in the 22 overs available in their second innings in the remaining play.
With two days left, it is still a troubling equation for the West Indies who must bat last on a worn, if slow, pitch.
The likelihood is that they will have to bat from around tea today until the close tomorrow - roughly 120 overs - to avoid defeat.
A scenario that England might collapse and that some heroes would lead the West Indies to a victory to compare with that over Australia in Barbados in 1999 or in Antigua in 2003 is not out of the question. But it would be too much to expect another miracle.
If they do earn a draw, Chanderpaul would deserve the medal.
The guidance and inspiration he provided for two young partners on whom West Indies cricket must depend in the coming years, and a veteran who has been as critical to the team as he himself, simply enhanced the worth of his diligence.
Dwayne Bravo, age 20 and in his debut Test, batted with comparable assurance for two hours, 40 minutes, broken over two days, scoring 44 chanceless runs in a fifth wicket partnership of 125.
Ridley Jacobs, the wicket-keeper, oldest man in a youthful team and saviour of several such causes in his time, stood firm for an hour and a quarter while another 62 were added.
Omari Banks, the tall, 22-year-old Anguillan whose confidence might have been completely eroded as much by the punishment his off-spin bowling took on the first day as his rough welcome from England's fast bowlers, actually outscored Chaderpaul in their stand of 72.
He launched a straight six off leftarm-spinner Ashley Giles and seven fours in 45 but he was the first of three wickets for Andy Flintoff who went past his expansive drive immediately after tea to bowl him off the pads.
The official line before the match was that Flintoff was unable to bowl because of an ankle problem. That was changed on the second day after he came through a trial following the first day and the charismatic all-rounder did not take long to lift the mood of another well-out crowd at Lord's.
Suddenly, he spreadeagled Tino Best's stumps first ball and, once Pedro Collins avoided the hat-trick, the innings ended with a couple of scatter-brained shots from him and his brother, Fidel, that left Chanderpaul undeservedly high and dry.
This is the left-hander's 77th Test since he first took guard, against England in his native Guyana in 1994, hammering the bail into the crease as a marker, a procedure that has become as much of a trademark as the unattractive, but effective, crabbiness of his style.
In the intervening years, he had fashioned ten Test hundreds and built an average in the mid-40s that ranks alongside all the contemporary batsmen except the few in the category of great.
He was 19 and so small the pads seemed to reach to his armpits. But his method was simple and his temperament clearly sound. He scored 62 with the aplomb of a veteran.
It was the start of a career in which he has become the most adaptable of West Indies' batsmen but which has been blighted by injuries and illness of one type or another than have kept him out of 19 Tests.
His first hundred was three years and 37 innings in coming but it was no reflection on his reliability for his average has seldom dripped below 40.
He has made up ground quickly. Yesterday's was his eleventh and, given its context and its composition, his best.
He entered the fray on Friday afternoon after three wickets had fallen for eight runs and the West Indies were tottering on the verge of another of their infamous batting breakdowns.
The situation became critical when umpire Daryl Harper's trigger finger accounted for Brian Lara.
At 139 for four, replying to 568, the resilience of a team still carrying a hangover from its thumping in the Caribbean a few months earlier was severely tested.
Chanderpaul had been there several times before. The course of the innings - indeed the match and, in the circumstances, even the series - revolved around him.
Only the fledglings Bravo and Banks, Jacobs and the fast bowlers remained.
It is unlikely that the computers with which the analysts now assess play logged in more than a dozen of the 270 deliveries he received that genuinely flustered him.
He showed a special liking for the off-side, driving and cutting with certainty for most of his 15 boundaries. Otherwise, he skilfully worked the gaps in the field for strokes of lesser value.
It could be described as a typical Chanderpaul innings for it was the situation to which he is best suited.
As he has often proved, he is not a one-dimensional batsman. His 69-ball 100 against Australia at Bourda in 2004 is the third fastest on record. England's most recent experience of his other side was with his rapid-fire 84 at the one-day international, also at Bourda, last April.
But Lord's was the occasion for more circumspection.
The problem for the West Indies now is that he, or someone else, is likely to have to do it all over again second time round.