Playing with a leather ball might be his forte but Guyana and West Indies middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul is also very adept at playing with a ball of a much softer variety.
Chanderpaul who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, celebrated another man of the match performance as he helped Floodlights Softball Cricket Team overhaul a huge target set by Bel Air Rubis, Friday night under floodlights at the Demerara Cricket Club ground.
Batting first Bel Air Rubis posted a challenging 174 off their allotted 20 overs but Chanderpaul who opened the batting with eight year-old star in the making Romeo Deonarine,(who made eight) stayed virtually until the end.
Chanderpaul demonstrated an ability to play each ball on its merit on a pitch with an unpredictable bounce and rarely played the ball in the air.
When he did do so, the end result was either a four or a six.
Ricky Deonarine came in and hit the first ball for a six in his cameo knock before departing for 12 which allowed Chanderpaul and Patrick Khan who made 36.
After Khan’s dismissal and with Floodlights needing 14 runs per over Chanderpaul found a useful ally in Khalid Baksh who towards the end made things look easy by smashing consecutive sixes on his way to 40 not out.
Chanderpaul who recently carried his bat through the West Indies/ Bangladesh test series looked like carrying his bat through another innings but was caught on the boundary looking to score the winning run. He made 75.
On Pitch#2, Mike’s Wellman defeated Parika Defenders by 14 runs. Mike’s Wellman, batting first, made 198 and Parika Defenders in reply made 185 all out.
