A great weekend for the Chanderpauls

Shivnarine Chanderpaul is not the kind of player for whom things come easy. He spends inordinate amounts of time at the crease for his runs, grinds down the opposition rather than flattening them with silky strokes and even after 17 years of cricket, is not always mentioned in lists of Caribbean greats. The adulation he received during the Dominica Test must have felt almost a little disconcerting for the workman-like Chanderpaul. Becoming West Indies’ most-capped Test player drew attention to his contribution to Caribbean cricket, he was cheered even when he came on to bowl, and after he helped save the Test with a second-innings century, the prime minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, declared Chanderpaul an honourary citizen of the country.

If all that wasn’t quite enough for Chanderpaul, on Saturday, while he was compiling the first half of his 23rd Test hundred, his son Tagnarine Chanderpaul top-scored for the Guyana Under-15 side, against Jamaica in the WICB Under-15 tournament. Chanderpaul junior scored 37 out of a score of 95 at Honeymoon Park. Perhaps West Indies will not have to look too far to replace Shiv.