To pick or not to pick him.
That was the dilemma faced by the West Indies selectors as they prepared to name their squad for the first of two test matches against the touring Australians at Windsor Park, Dominica, next month.
They opted not to and regional cricket has not been the same since.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (11, 867 test runs) needs just 87 more runs to surpass Brian Lara (11,953) as the highest run-scorer in West Indies cricket.
Chanderpaul hails from Unity, East Coast Demerara but his omission from the team completely polarized the region with some fans supporting and some rooting against his non-selection.
To be fair to the selectors they were between the proverbial rock and a hard place, damned if they selected him and damned if they did not.
What made it more difficult is that the chairman of the West Indies selection panel is none other than the legendary Clive Lloyd, the man mainly responsible for the West Indies senior team becoming an unbeatable force in world cricket for approximately 15 years.
To compound matters, Lloyd, like Chanderpaul is Guyanese and surely he must have felt that in not choosing Chanderpaul there might have been some who felt that there was some other motive (possibly ulterior) why Chanderpaul was not selected.
But, according to Lloyd it was performance and nothing else that helped the selectors make the unpalatable choice.
In a letter to the left handed maestro, Lloyd pointed out that the selectors’ along with new coach Phil Simmons, used statistics from Chandarpaul’s previous six test matches.
The prognosis was not good.
“The coach and the selectors have studied your stats from the last six Test matches to date, three against South Africa and three against England. You batted 11 innings and had an aggregate of 183 runs at an average of 16.64,” the letter to Chanderpaul stated.
“In determining the squad for the series against Australia, The selectors have decided to move on with younger players for the future. I therefore regret to inform you that the Coach and selectors have decided to omit you from the squad for that series.”
There you have it. One can hardly find fault with Lloyd’s panel’s decision.
Nor can one fault Chanderpaul. The bedrock on which West Indies’ batting stood for the last two decades had indicated his interest in playing the final two test matches in an effort to bid farewell to his fans adding that the WICB could have used the occasion to give him the type of sendoff befitting his yeoman service to Guyana and West Indies cricket.
It was not too much to ask. But the wish was not granted although there was a lobbying of sorts from a few Directors of the WICB and president Dave Cameron which led to a glimmer of hope with the news that the selectors were rescinding their decision only for that particular bubble to be burst the next day.
While the following might not have anything to do with it, Lloyd and Anand Sanasie were at odds during the period when the government in Guyana set up an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to arrive at a new constitution for the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) following reports of all types of irregularities.
Not surprisingly the GCB issued a statement on Monday roundly condemning the decision not to select Chanderpaul and pointed out that they had not only nominated Lloyd to contest the presidency of the WICB but had also endorsed Lloyd’s nomination to be chairman of the WI selection panel.
One cannot help by sympathise with the man in the middle, “Shiv” or “Tiger” as he is popularly known.
Here is a person who shows every time he goes out to bat just how much he loves cricket and what the sport means to him and had he been selected and broken the record Chanderpaul would probably have declared 2015 a annus mirabilis’.
He once played a softball cricket game at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground in Queenstown and never once hit a ball in the air. He was still there not out when victory was achieved. No matter the game a bottom house knock up or the real thing, test cricket Chanderpaul sells his wicket dearly.
His longevity is testament to his physical fitness regimen and though his technique is not the prettiest, it has the most substance which is why over the years he has gained such monikers as “Mr. Reliable”, “Mr. Dependable” and “Mr. Consistent.”
The argument whether he should have been allowed to play or not is one which will wage on until time immemorial but one thing is clear.
Chanderpaul will never forget the act by the selectors which robbed him of the opportunity to scale Mount Everest of West Indies cricket by becoming Numero Uno, the highest run scorer for the region in the history of the game.
For him and his many loyal fans it is nothing but a travesty, for the selectors it is probably no big deal.
