Dyson hints Chanderpaul could open

John Dyson, the West Indies coach, has hinted on the possibility of Shivnarine Chanderpaul opening the innings in the third ODI against Australia in Grenada. "There will be a number of things that will be talked about in the next 24 hours," Dyson told the Barbados-based Nation. "That's possibly one of them."

However Dyson added that though Chanderpaul could bat at any position, he had his mind set about where he was comfortable. "We've talked to Shiv at times before about changing around his position in the Test side and also in the one-day side and I think he is fairly comfortable in the positions that he is in," Dyson said.

In 74 ODIs in which he opened for West Indies, Chanderpaul averaged 43.27 - more than his overall average of 40.48 - and scored six hundreds and 18 half-centuries. But he hasn't opened for them since the World Cup last year.

Dyson said the key was to strike a balance between what position a player performed at and what was best for the team. "What you don't want to do is put someone in a position where they are not totally comfortable and then suddenly you see their performance go down because they are in a position they aren't really practiced in and would prefer not to be in. It's a juggling act. If you look at the three guys who batted one, two and three, they all open or bat at No. 3 in their sides. We are batting people who bat in those positions in those spots."