Dear Editor,
He is known as the ‘Tiger’ because of the seriousness he takes to his batting; some say he is like money in the bank because of his consistency; some feel he is a batting genius. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is the West Indian batsman who played the most Test matches – 158 as the Windies played their 500th Test match in St Lucia against Bangladesh. At 40, Chanderpaul blasted 101 not out following up his first innings total of 84 not out, while in the first Test he scored 85 not out.
Shiv, as he is fondly called, has the world record of batting for 1,513 minutes without dismissals.
Although he is being dubbed as slow in his batting, yet he scored a century off 69 deliveries against Australia in 2003 – the third fastest century in Test cricket.
He has so far scored 11,684 Test runs, the second highest by a WAest Indian next to Brian
Lara, who has the record of scoring 11,953. If all goes well the Tiger will surpass Lara’s record. Shiv’s Test average is the highest by a West Indian at 53.100. He has scored 30 centuries and 65 half centuries in Tests. His highest was 203 not out. He played 268 One Day Internationals and scored 8,778 runs at an average of 41.60, scoring 11 centuries and 59 half centuries. He also scored a triple century in a regional match in Jamaica.
He captained the West Indies in 14 Tests and 16 ODIs. He scored more than 20,000 runs in international cricket and in 2008 he was named as Cricketer of the Year by Wisden Cricketers Almanac and as Player of the Year by the International Cricket Council (ICC). He made his international debut at the age of 19 and partnered Lara in Antigua when the Trinidadian broke Sir Garfield Sobers record for the highest Test score. Tiger is a top class batsman and represented Guyana, Durham, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Khulna Royal and Derbyshire.
Myself and wife Mourine met Chanderpaul at the GCC ground at a reception when he was selected to represent the Windies. He was a shy and frail looking teenager. He was born in a little village on the East Coast of Demerara – the same village where the former President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo; long-serving President of the Guyana Cricket Board, Chetram Singh; and former speedster Colin Croft were born.
He was given some sort of recognition by the Guyana Government – a street in Georgetown was named after him – and he was accorded the country’s third highest award, the Cacique Crown of Honour (CCH). I feel he should be awarded the Order of Roraima (OR) the second highest award, and that Caricom should recognize him with the Order of Caribbean Community (OCC) as they did in the case of Lara, the Mighty Sparrow and others. The UWI should also consider an honorary doctorate for him as they did for Lara and Sparrow.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
