November 7, 2018 issue
Cricket
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the second most prolific Test cricketer in Windies history, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) St Augustine campus.
The 43-year-old batsman was bestowed with the Honorary Doctor of Laws during the campus graduation ceremony last Thursday.
During a Test career that spanned two decades (1994-2015), Chanderpaul played a record 164 Tests for the Windies scoring 11,867 runs at an average of 51.37. During that time he scored 30 Test centuries and 66 fifties and was a stabilizing force in the Windies middle order.
He was also prolific in ODIs, amassing 8,778 runs at an average of 41.60 in 268 matches during which he scored 11 centuries and 59 half-centuries.
Chanderpaul announced his retirement from international cricket in January 2016. He was 41 years old and had not played for the Windies since May of the previous year.
Windies selectors said he was not considered for selection following a poor run of form during which he averaged 15.33. This prompted Windies great Brian Lara to express his disappointment at the way in which Chanderpaul was dropped.
In 1999 in East London, South Africa, Chanderpaul made his highest One Day International score when he opened the batting and scored 150 during a splendid partnership with Carl Hooper. It was the only One-Day match of that series that West Indies won.
He score a hundred in a Test record 4th innings score of 418 to win the final Test against Australia in 2003, and avoid a series whitewash. Despite his reputation as a dogged Test batsman he has also made the fourth fastest century in Test cricket, reaching three figures in just 67 balls at Bourda, Guyana, also in the 2003 series against Australia. That Australian bowling attack included Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Andy Bichel, Brad Hogg and Stuart MacGill. Chanderpaul said later that he would have preferred to bat longer, not faster!
In 2004, at Bourda, the one-day game against England had been reduced to 30 overs per side with West Indies batting first and Chanderpaul opening. It was painful to watch as he took 34 balls to reach double figures and 50 deliveries to get to 14. The spectators, of course, were unhappy, to say the least. From the next 46 deliveries he made a further 70, in a remarkable and sudden change of gear. West Indies lost a close game, but only a special, single-minded batsman could have had the confidence to come up with such a game-plan and to see it through.
He was named captain of West Indies in the first Test versus South Africa in March 2005 in Guyana, after seven senior players including captain Brian Lara were dropped in a sponsorship row. He scored 200* and was retained as captain for the rest of the series even though Lara returned in the second Test. In April 2006, Chanderpaul resigned as West Indies captain to concentrate on his batting. In 14 Tests he won one and lost 10, with 3 draws. In 16 One Day Internationals he won 2 and lost 14. The captaincy was immediately restored to Brian Lara.
The year 2008 was special for Chanderpaul, when he was named the International Cricket Council’s Cricketer of the Year, winning the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. He was also named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2008. In July 2008 Guyana's President Jagdeo appointed Chanderpaul as a member of the Order of Service of Guyana and awarded him the Golden Arrow of Achievement. This was for “his consistently outstanding performance as a cricketer, especially as a batsman, at the national, regional and international levels.”
It was not, however, all fun for him in 2008. In the Test against Australia at Sabina Park in Jamaica, he was felled by a bouncer during a fiery spell by Brett Lee, with his score on 86. Though he lost control of his arms and legs momentarily he stood back up, waved off the paramedics, took guard again and went on to score one of cricket’s most courageous centuries. In true Chanderpaul style, he later said “The team would have been in trouble if I had left the field then.”
It was also in 2008 that Chanderpaul scored 10 runs (a four and a six) off the last 2 balls of a One-Day International to snatch victory from Sri Lanka in the face of almost certain defeat. West Indies needed 10 runs off the last 2 balls and Chaminda Vaas was bowling.
In March 2009, when Chanderpaul was ranked as the world’s leading Test batsman, he was welcomed back to Guyana by thousands as his motorcade made its way from the airport into Georgetown. He was awarded Guyana’s third highest National Award (Cacique Crown of Honour) for achieving excellence and International standing in the field of Sports. He also received a plot of land from a private developer. A section of New Garden Street running along the Bourda cricket ground was renamed Shiv Chanderpaul Drive in his honour.
In early 2011 the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) dropped Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle from the one-day team to play Pakistan in the West Indies and Chanderpaul was asked to retire from One-Day Internationals. He stated shortly after that the new WICB coach’s methods were detrimental to his batting. Chanderpaul also demanded an explanation from WICB Chief Executive Ernest Hilaire for comments Hilaire made about the lack of discipline and application in the West Indies team during the series in the Indian sub-continent. He later found himself before the WICB because of this.
On July 6, 2011, in the 3rd Test against India in Dominica, he became the most-capped West Indies player, playing in his 133rd Test match. In this match he, as he did so often before, rescued the West Indies yet again with a century in the second innings – his 23rd Test century overall. The Prime Minister of Dominica, who was attending the match, conferred honorary Dominica citizenship on Chanderpaul on the 5th day of the match, as his broad bat kept the Indian bowlers at bay.
Chanderpaul represented Durham, Lancashire and Warwickshire, starting from 2007, replacing regular overseas players who were unavailable because of national commitments. He also represented Khulna Royal Bengals in the Bangladesh Premier League, and Uva Next in the Sri Lanka Premier League and enjoyed considerable success in both.
Chanderpaul is also known for using a bail to mark his guard, his open crablike stance when batting, wearing black anti-glare stripes when batting and kissing the pitch whenever he gets a century. He represented Durham for the second half of the 2007 English county season and Lancashire in 2010. In 2011 he agreed to represent Warwickshire in the English County championship.
Debutant spinner Brendon Mavuta claimed 4-21 while Sikandar Raza grabbed 3-41 as the visitors bowled out Bangladesh for 169 in the second innings on the fourth day.
Imrul Kayes hit 43 runs for Bangladesh, top-scoring for the hosts as Zimbabwe take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.
Bangladesh made 143 runs in the first innings in response to Zimbabwe's 282.
The visitors were then bowled out for 181 runs in the second innings, setting up a 321-run target for the home side.
Bangladesh, chasing a record target of 321 runs in the fourth innings, resumed play on 26-0 but within half-an-hour had lost their first wicket, with others following quickly.
Play started 30 minutes early to make up for lost time after bad light brought a premature end to day three, with Bangladesh still needing 295 runs on a wearing pitch.
The home side – whose best run chase was 217-6 against the West Indies in 2009 – started collapsing once Raza reviewed a leg-before appeal against opener Liton Das.
The umpire gave Liton not out but a TV replay indicated the ball would have hit the stump after pitching outside off – ending Liton's innings on 23.
One down, Mominul Haque dragged a Jarvis delivery onto his stumps for nine before Raza bowled Imrul Kayes for 43 to leave Bangladesh at 83-3.
Skipper Mahmudullah promoted himself to number four but could not rescue his side and perished for 16, giving a catch to substitute fielder Craig Ervine at short leg off Raza.
Raza then took a spectacular catch at cover on the stroke of lunch to hand debutant Mavuta his maiden Test wicket and send back Nazmul Hossain.
The second Test will be held in Dhaka from November 11-15.
In what was scheduled to be a day/night contest, India wrapped up the match well before dark after dismissing the Windies for 104 in 31.5 overs.
It was the visitors’ lowest-ever ODI score against India.
The home side, led by a brisk half-century from the in-form Rohit Sharma and an unbeaten knock of 33 from captain Virat Kohli, motored to 105 for one in 14.5 overs, to wrap up the contest even before the scheduled break.
The lone hiccup in the run chase came in the first over when Shikhar Dhawan lost his wicket, his inside edge crashing into middle stump off the bowling of Oshane Thomas to leave India 6 for one.
Thomas was unlucky not to have dismissed Kohli when he was just eight, as captain Jason Holder put down a regulation catch at first slip. The Indian captain then showed his appreciation for the lifeline off the very next ball by thumping Thomas through cover for four.
Luck wasn’t on Thomas’ side, as the burly fast bowler also had Sharma caught behind off a no-ball. After that, Sharma adapted a no-nonsense mood driving Thomas back over his head for six and then pulling Holder’s first ball of the 11th over to the boundary to bring up the 50-run partnership. He followed that up by lifting him over midwicket for six – his 200th in ODIs – off the next ball as they rushed to 62-1.
Keemo Paul was dispatched for consecutive boundaries by Sharma, who eventually brought up his 50 off 52 balls to record his 37th ODI half-century.
Sharma was on the rampage now and he belted Devendra Bishoo for six over long off, before Kohli joined in by cutting the leg-spinner behind point for four as the score moved to 103 for one.
Sharma then fittingly ended the match with a single to long-on two balls later.
However, the outcome had virtually been decided long before then, thanks mainly to another inept showing with the bat by the West Indies and a four-wicket haul from spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
While only three Windies batsmen managed to score in double figures, Jadeja accounted for key dismissals in the middle and lower orders to ensure the visitors would not recover from their horrific start.
The visitors never recovered from the early losses of Kieran Powell (0) and Shai Hope (0) which saw them slump to 2-2.
Powell’s loose drive off a wide delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar ended in the gloves of wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, while Hope was bowled after he played on, attempting an expansive cover drive off Jasprit Bumrah.
A brief 34-run stand between Rovman Powell and Marlon Samuels had looked set to put the Windies back on track before Samuels chipped Jadeja to Virat Kohli at cover for an easy catch.
Shimron Hetmyer only scored nine before he became Jadeja’s second wicket, adjudged LBW after a review. Powell followed four runs later, pulling Khaleel Ahmed’s short ball straight into the hands of square leg as the Windies fell to 57 for five.
Captain Jason Holder tried his best to revive his team’s innings, but he fell for the top score of 25, mistiming a drive off Ahmed that made it only as far as mid-off.
The wickets of Keemo Paul (5), Kemar Roach (5) and Oshane Thomas (0) followed soon after, as the Windies folded meekly.
Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers ending with 4-34. There were two wickets apiece for Bumrah (2-11) and Ahmed (2-29).
3-0 in T20 series
Pakistan were lifted to 166-3 by Babar Azam who made a 58-ball 79 with seven boundaries and two sixes while Mohammad Hafeez hit a 34-ball 53 with four boundaries and two sixes.
When on 48, Azam became the quickest to score 1,000 Twenty20 runs in just 26 innings beating India's Virat Kohli's record by an innings.
Leg-spinner Shadab Khan took 3-30 as New Zealand were bundled out for 119 in 16.5 overs. Pakistan won the first match in Abu Dhabi by two runs and the second by six wickets in Dubai.
The men-in-green had rested pacers Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali, and handed a debut to Waqas Maqsood — that too on his 31st birthday. After their second T20 victory last Friday, Pakistan gained their 11th successive T20 series win and lived up to their billing as the world's best Twenty20 team. They also won a tri-series against Zimbabwe and Australia this year.
At the end of that match Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed described the win as a team effort concluding, “We have a good balance, with Hasan Ali at 10. We know we can get 150-160. So if we start well and if we don't let too many dot balls in the middle, we have the experience of Hafeez and Malik as well.”
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson conceeded that "they have a clear pattern of play which they've executed here in the UAE.”
Set 153 to win, Proteas’ openers Quinton de Kock (47) and Reeza Hendricks (44) helped secure victory with 124 balls to spare, leaving Australia with plenty to ponder ahead of the second of the three-game series in Adelaide on Friday.
The hosts came into the clash having lost 16 of their past 18 ODIs and with the reverberations of a ball-tampering scandal this year still hanging over them.
Coach Justin Langer was hoping they could put a smile back on the faces of fans in their first game on home soil since the cheating row boiled over in March. But without the banned Steve Smith and David Warner, their batsmen were exposed once again in a stadium full of empty seats.
They were bowled out for just 152 in 38.1 overs with Nathan Coulter-Nile (34) and Alex Carey (33) the only ones to offer any resistance. Veteran Steyn took 2-18 off seven overs while Andile Phehlukwayo picked up 3-33 off six overs.
“We didn’t play anywhere near our potential,” said skipper Aaron Finch. “We were a bit careless at times in the first innings. We were off the mark slowly. If you’re defending 152, then nothing can go wrong with the ball. Unfortunately for us, Quinton and Reeza got off to a flier, and there was little we could do from there.”
His opposite number Faf Du Plessis praised his team as “exceptional” with the ball and in the field. “There was some counter-punching at the end, but a good day at the office overall,” he said.
“All the bowlers today were great. It’s great as a captain to have such X-factor in the bowling attack and they made sure to take advantage of the conditions.”
The Proteas won the toss and after opting for a four-pronged pace attack chose to bowl, with Steyn getting two early breakthroughs.
Travis Head got a thick edge to de Kock off the veteran for just one and then D’Arcy Short, in the side for Shaun Marsh who needs minor surgery on an abscess, followed him back to the pavilion for a duck two balls later.
Finch, who can be explosive when in full flight, totally misjudged the bounce from a Lungi Ngidi delivery and was out lbw soon after for five.
He mistakenly opted not to review with Australia floundering at 8-3 as replays revealed the ball would have gone over the stumps.
The first four of the innings, from Chris Lynn, didn’t come until the 12th over, and he was caught behind for 15 on review not long after.
Carey kept the scoreboard slowly ticking over but he fell attempting to scoop an Imran Tahir ball over the head of de Kock before some late fireworks from Coulter-Nile took them past 150.
Australia were buoyant ahead of the game with injured fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins returning to spearhead the attack alongside Josh Hazlewood.
But they failed to emulate their South African counterparts.
Finch bizarrely opted to open the bowling with Coulter-Nile instead of Starc. He was smashed for 16 in his first over before being removed.
De Kock and Hendricks raced to a 94-run partnership before Coulter-Nile made amends on his return, having de Kock caught at mid-off going for another big hit.
Marcus Stoinis took the wickets of Hendricks, Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen before du Plessis and David Miller secured the win.
Pakistan made 150-5 in their 20 overs with Babar Azam (50), Sahibzada Farhan (39) and Mohammad Hafeez (32 not out) their main run scorers.
For Australia Mitchell Marsh took 6-2 in his only over.
In reply, Australia were bowled out for 117 in 19.1 overs, with Ben McDermott and Mitchell Marsh scoring 21 each. Spinner Shadab Khan took 3-19.
Pakistan, who won the first match by 66 runs in Abu Dhabi followed by 11 run victory in the second in Dubai, had rested opener Fakhar Zaman and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, bringing in Sahibzada Farhan and Usman Shinwari.
Australia brought in off-spinner Nathan Lyon in place of seamer Billy Stanlake.