Holding: Tough to find another Shiv...

Holding: Tough to find another Shiv
Sunday, January 24 2016

WEST INDIES legend Michael Holding paid glowing tribute to the retired Shivnarine Chanderpaul, labelling him as “a great West Indies cricketer” and someone “who contributed a lot to West Indies cricket.” Chanderpaul informed the West Indies Cricket Board on Friday that he would no longer be available for selection for the regional team. “The memories of Chanderpaul for the West Indies will be someone who gave everything throughout his entire career for a very, very long time,” Holding divulged.

The former pacer also admitted that Chanderpaul could be the last of a dying breed of Test oriented batsmen which the region is lacking. On unearthing another ‘Shiv’, he said, “I wouldn’t write it off, but with the way the game is structured now moving towards the shorter and shorter form, it is going to be difficult to find another Shivnarine Chanderpaul.” He revealed that while Chanderpaul’s dropping was unceremonious, it was a move needed for Windies cricket to push younger batsmen to the Test fore.

“I know Shiv was disappointed when he was dropped from the West Indies team but at the same time many cricketers go out of Test cricket that way where they think they can go a bit longer.

Some will argue that perhaps he could have gone up the order and West Indies could have gotten a bit more out of him but I don’t usually see batsmen moving up the order as they get older.

“What West Indies perhaps needed was to find youngsters who needed to come a bit higher in the order with Shiv lower in the order (so) that (he) could bat with both youngsters at the top and the tail below,” he stated. Holding said the one concern he had with Chanderpaul’s career was him at times batting with the tail.

“The only problem I ever had with Shiv in cricket and his attitude towards batting was that sometimes when he was batting with the tail, it was almost as if he didn’t care what happened to the tail — that he only batted for himself,” he continued.

On his brief stint as captain, Holding added, “Shiv was strong for himself, but he wasn’t an outgoing person so it didn’t quite work out for him.

Some say he batted selfishly or boring at times but he could also change gear.” Holding revealed that Chanderpaul’s tenacity and shift in batting technique was testament to his character and strength. “He was the type of player who always did what was necessary for him to get some runs. You look at his stance over time, how it changed from being orthodox to completely unorthodox -- people thought it would never work at the highest level (but) he made it work for him.

“Shiv came into Test cricket at a very tender age. He was not always strong physically, but mentally he was.

He used to get cramps a lot and was struggling out there a lot of times batting but he changed his diet, his work ethic and then became stronger physically so he could go make centuries. He took a long time to get his first century, he had lots of fifties and sixties, but couldn’t convert to centuries.

He has always been determined.

Whenever he had to do something to make himself better, he did it,” Holding concluded.

Chanderpaul’s international career spanned 22 years. He made his debut for the West Indies against England in March 1994 and played 164 Tests, 268 One- Day Internationals and 22 Twenty20 Internationals.