‘FAREWELL SERIES’ FOR CHANDERPAUL IS NONSENSE

For the record I am a big fan of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Ever since he made his debut for the West Indies 21 years ago I have always admired his resolve. More often than not when the rest of the team was capitulating around him, Chanderpaul was the only one who was able to stand up to opposing bowlers with his resolute if awkward stance, never believing that his wicket could be bought cheaply.

Had it not been for Chanderpaul Brian Lara might have never broken Garfield Sobers’ world record of 365. Chanderpaul stayed with Lara and allowed him to build his inning. By the time Chanderpaul got out Lara had already built great momentum and was steadily heading towards history.

People often chastised him for being selfish and that he was doing his best to pad his record by remaining not out, but I often counter by saying that had other West Indies batsmen demonstrated his resolve and ‘selfishness’, the regional team might not have lost half the number of matches it did in the last two decades.

But after 21 years as the anchor, the rock of the West Indies team, Tiger was recently dropped for the upcoming series against Australia. His omission has signaled the end of a career that yielded 11,867 runs at an average of 51-plus, 30 Test centuries and double that number in 50s.

His omission has spurred a bunch of calls from legends like Lara for Chanderpaul to be given a farewell series. His countryman, Ramnaresh Sarwan, has also lashed out at the selectors for not picking his former teammate to play against Australia. The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) has also chastised the selectors. They all claim that Chanderpaul deserves a farewell series. They say his significant contributions to West Indies cricket makes him deserving of that.

I say rubbish.

While I agree that Tiger has contributed significantly to the West Indies over the past two decades, there were signs that the end was near. The signs were there and I wasn’t willing to recognize that. I remember having a conversation on Facebook with a ‘friend’ with the unlikely name of Chris Gayle, who believed that the time had come for Chanderpaul to walk away because he was past his best.

At the time I disagreed. I argued that Chanderpaul was just going through a bad patch, but in all things there comes a time when one has to face reality and that reality is that Chanderpaul was past his best. When I looked back at the recent series against South Africa and England, I came to realize that it wasn’t a lack of form per se, that made Chanderpaul only score 91 runs and 93 runs respectively in each of those series; it was his reflexes or more accurately, the lack thereof.

Let’s face it, Chanderpaul is 40 years old, and as fit as he is, when you get to a certain age, those reflexes will begin to slow. Watching him against the pace bowlers who were up near 90 miles an hour, Chanderpaul barely had time to get behind the line of the ball. He was being consistently beaten for pace.

Hence, those calling for Shiv to get one last series against perhaps the best bowling attack in the world, have become immersed in sentiment and sinking away from the reality that stared them in the face. Cricket is a team sport. Each of those 11 players have a role to play. Chanderpaul’s was one of the most critical. His job was to hold the middle order together, something he was called upon to do more often than not in the last two decades but lately he hasn’t been as reliable. It is one thing if he was 25 or 30, but the fact is he is 40 years old. There is a big difference. It is why you often hear people say sometimes veterans run the risk of staying on too long in their respective sports and that it is better to retire while on top.

Chanderpaul is now learning that lesson. Someone younger needs to come in now and start the process of learning that role. Whoever that it will not be a Chanderpaul. They will not be able to fill his shoes but the process of rebuilding will have to start now; meaning it is time for Chanderpaul to go because he was not good at his job anymore and at his age it is unlikely that he would ever get back to the days when he was the anchor.

That is why this ‘he deserves a farewell series’ is nonsense. In any sport, any team sport, no individual player can ever take precedence over the team. The team comes first. Always. We saw some encouraging signs from other players in the last series against England. Jermaine Blackwood did a good job as did Darren Bravo who may be finally finding the maturity required to capitalize on his God-given talent. The time has now come for even newer blood to come in and start the process of learning the role left behind by Chanderpaul.

Those shoes will be big ones to fill and perhaps they never will be but having Chanderpaul remain in that role for even one more series would be an injustice to the sport and to young players deserving of the opportunity to prove themselves, and it for that reason why I side with the selectors for dropping Chanderpaul when they did. The one thing that is consistent in this life is change. Those calling for the reinstatement of Chanderpaul need to bear that in mind.

West Indies Cricket Board President Dave Cameron suggested recently that something should be done to honour the Tiger. If he is true to his word, let that be how Chanderpaul is honoured, instead of putting him in a situation where he bows out in disgrace rather than with dignity.