Chanderpaul selection

Fri Jan 17, 2013

by Oscar Ramjeet

I have been covering international cricket for the past two decades and I know for a fact that regional cricket tournaments are treated as trial matches for international cricket. And with the performance of West Indies star batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, I cannnot see why he should not be selected for the Three One Day Internationals, starting on February 28 against England in Antigua, especially since Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard and Kemar Roach may not play because of injuries.{{more}}

The “Tiger” scored two half centuries in as many matches Guyana played in the 50-over Nagico tournament so far. He batted stubbornly on both occasions and was associated with big opening partnerships in both games.

Even before these magnificient performances, the Guyanese is known for being the mainstay in the West Indies line-up and one wonders why he is only being retained for test matches – the longest version of the game. The last match he represented the West Indies in ODI was in 2011 and it is said that the senior coach Barbadian Otis Gibson does not like his batting style for ODIs. I wonder if Gibson can properly assess one’s batting ability when he was a bowler, and not even an outstanding one, hence the reason he only played a few tests.

Shiv has so far scored 11 centuries and 59 half centuries in his 268 ODI games, at an average of 41.60 — more than nearly all the other one-day players. In tests, he scored 11,199 runs, at an average of 52.08. Moreover, he is a team player – the junior players always turn to him for advice. He captained the Windies team on 14 occasions in test matches and in 16 ODIs and was among the Wisden five best players in 2008.

He is known as the backbone of the team and one wonders why he is being sidelined for the shorter version of the game when he is an aggressive player, having scored the third fastest century in test cricket. He is also a magnificient fielder. What else can a player do to be in the squad. It seems as if Gibson has other reasons for keeping him out of the squad.