Following West Indies’ series win over Zimbabwe, Chairman of the senior selection panel, Dr. Desmond Haynes has extended congratulations to Guyanese duo, Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Gudakesh Motie for their heroics.
Chanderpaul’s unbeaten 207 in the first Test ensured West Indies a draw and in the process broke several records including the first triple-century opening partnership for West Indies in Test with Kraigg Brathwaite while also becoming the first opener apart from Brathwaite to score a century in a decade. “I would like to congratulate the team first because I find when we are playing Test cricket in particular, away Test matches are not easy to win, it doesn’t matter who you are playing against and first I would like to congratulate young Chanderpaul, Shiv’s [Shivnarine] son on breaking the opening partnership of 336 runs they made against Zimbabwe, I think it’s a fantastic effort, Kraigg continues to lead from the front, to see the young man Chanderpaul getting a double hundred in only a couple of Test matches I think he set a bench mark for bigger things and I hope he continues in this vain,” Haynes stated during a press conference yesterday.
In the second Test, Motie spun West Indies to an innings and four-run win after picking up a match haul of 13-99, the third-best bowling figures in Test for West Indies and the best by a spinner.
Haynes pointed out, “Also the bowlers, Motie has bowled very well, he worked on his game and he looked a very good left-arm spinner seeing him taking some wickets…It is good to see that he went to Zimbabwe and bowled very well, I spoke to a lot of the players who said they believed he is the real deal.”
