Brian Lara said it and all of Guyana is pleading for Shivnarine Chanderpaul to be given a farewell Test series.
But it should not even come to that.
The ‘Tiger’s dismissal from the West Indies cricket team is an unjust premature decision as two failed series is not justification to end the career of a player of Chanderpaul’s calibre.
Apart from the 11,867 Test runs he accumulated, the Guyanese has exhibited a level of determination unmatched in the modern era of Regional cricketers.
And with his exemplary fitness levels, which are always the key to sport success whether you are 40 years old or not, it is thus fair to disagree with the decision of selectors, Clive Lloyd, Courtney Walsh and Courtney Brown and Coach Phil Simmons.
More so, the “Tiger” is not being pushed out by any young player smashing down the door for selection, compiling tons of runs with the mastery of Lara or the aplomb of Lloyd himself in their pre-Test heyday.
For the longest while the current West Indies batting resources have been the poorest of any era, with Chanderpaul, standing out like a rose among thorns since Lara abruptly ended his stellar career in 2007.
So it is bewildering to now hear the need to strengthen the team with good young players out there.
On the Cricinfo website, former fast bowling ace Michael Holding endorsed the selectors’ decision, explaining that Chanderpaul was not good enough anymore to represent the maroon cap.
Surely though, even from casual observation, there is no one ready to even grow in the shoes, as he put it, Chanderpaul wore for 21 years in Test and international competition
Shai Hope was thrusted into Test action recently on the back of a Regional double century, a single century and three half tons this season, but his flaws were glaring.
With all due respect to the youngster, he played almost every delivery on the back foot in both innings of his debut and was easily outdone by the English bowlers in Barbados. Leon Johnson has been tried before and like others from the young group, shortcomings of technique, concentration and other malaises have stymied their progression to the next level.
Of the others used in the President’s XI that took on Australia this week, the likes of Jason Mohamed, Shamar Brooks, Roston Chase and Tyronne Theophile, one of whom is
likely to replace Chanderpaul, have not set the world on fire with impressive enough batting displays in Regional competition, as yet to justify jettisoning West Indies’ most prolific Test run scorer apart from Lara.
It is not science fiction to determine that the youngsters need deeper grounding at the ‘A’ team level with coaches strong on technique correctness and stamina fitness, to be ready for competition at the highest level.
When the most recycled batsman of the present era Devon Smith emerged as the leading run scorer in this year’s Regional four-day competition, it leaves little to the imagination about the quality of batsmen out there.
Test exposure now runs the risk of condemning these players to the fate of Kraigg Braithwaite, who was selected for international competition before he was ready, had to be dropped and then exposed to a steady diet of `A’ team games, before grooving himself back into the lineup as its established number one opener currently.
Apart from Braithwaite, Jermaine Blackwood is the next best young batsman among the modest lot available, and who used good attacking technique and instinct to post his maiden Test century and a half century against England.
If the selectors and Simmons have been carried away with the Jamaican’s improved returns and feel the others in line to fill Chanderpaul’s slot, will follow suit, then they have another think coming.
It was interesting to hear Simmons explain that the Guyanese cannot fit in, presumably with the superior talent he thinks he has.
Maybe he is still on a high from the comeback third Test win West Indies pulled off against England to draw the series in Barbados earlier this month.
The result though, remains only a draw, not a series victory, in a truncated three-game rubber, against a mentally frazzled visiting team still reeling from the media bashing it took following a disastrous World Cup campaign.
Unlike Smith and others who have been booted out and in from the Test side as were Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from the limited overs lineup, Chanderpaul ought not be treated that way as he is of a calibre way above theirs, and more often than not, super quality players eventually reward longer spells to regain form.
Since assuming his position as chief selector, Lloyd has spearheaded good decisions by the panel in recalling batsman Marlon Samuels and going against all odds in correctly choosing Jason Holder, who now seems the best choice among the thin lot available to captain West Indies.
This is in addition to similar success he had in talent- spotting in his career as captain.
But of late things have gone pear-shaped for the panel, beginning with the strange omission of prolific left-arm spinner Verasammy Permaul as Sunil Narine’s replacement for the World Cup, and even Narsingh Deonarine’s overlooking for the said squad despite his improved batting approach and underrated off spin.
Now the heat is on with the Chanderpaul issue which would not have been considered a slam-dunk decision, were it the other way around.
Of concern too is the awkward situation of three West Indies captains for the different formats, which can be remedied with Holder’s emergence and end the mock international analysts have cast in the team’s direction, as a result
The selectors would also do well to take interest in fast bowler Christopher Powell, a youngster with potential for a success story down the road.
From all appearances, Powell has never represented his native Jamaica, but made a big impact in the recent Nagico 50 overs semi-final with a dynamic five wickets for 22 runs haul, for Combined Colleges, that almost derailed new champions’ Trinidad and Tobago’s title quest. Among his qualities, Powell displayed that leaping delivery action which made Andy Roberts and Imran Khan, the great fast bowlers they developed into. Powell was not in the President’s XI, but deserves the exposure at higher than regional four-day levels, his batting peers require.
By now, the Windies first Test squad for Australia should’ve been decided, and Lara’s demand for Chanderpaul to be given a farewell series, like his illustrious peer Sachin Tendular enjoyed in India, would’ve been in vain.
However, as Lloyd and Holding have stated, is it counter-productive to select a player merely for sentimental reasons in a cricket team.
All picks are vital if winning is the objective, but unlike the two Test legends’ views of Chanderpaul, a 40-year-old “Tiger’ is a better pick now, than the young pretenders available.
