By Tony Cozier
It is typical of the present state of West Indies cricket that Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s retirement from the game he mastered in his peculiar style for 21 years, 164 Tests and 268 ODIs should have been inappropriately shrouded in controversy.
It was predicated by his omission from the home series against Australia last June. Aged 40, an average of 16.64 in his previous six Tests in South Africa and in the Caribbean against England, was a sign that the end was near. The selectors’ decision showed no compassion.
The chairman of the panel, Clive Lloyd, the legendary captain of the West Indies’ prolonged
