Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the patient practitioner

West Indies cricket has always possessed at least one exceptional batsman George Headley was the pioneer in the 1930s He was followed by the prolific triumvirate of the three Ws Frank Worrell Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott Garry Sobers Rohan Kanhai Viv Richards Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the seven decades since the resumption of Tests after World War IIShivnarine Chanderpaul steers one down to third man vs Bangladesh in the 2011 Chittagong Test PicAFPAnother superstar may subsequently join the list but given the games rapid and significant changes the certainty is that there will only ever be one Shivnarine ChanderpaulDecay of WI cricketHis retirement last week signalled the end of a unique career all of it spent fighting lost causes as the decay of the West Indies game set in Through an unparalleled 21 years 164 Tests 268 ODIs a total of 41 hundreds in both and 11867 Test runs at an average of 5137 he was the antithesis of the stereotype of West Indies batsmen as attacking exciting strokemakersWith Chanderpaul what you saw is what you got There were no flashing drives and searing cuts and hooks He simply did it in his understated way earning most of his runs with unshakable patience allied to steely wrists and a keen eye for profitable nudges and deflections through gaps in the fieldHe took a dim view of the advent of Twenty20 cricketBatsmen just give themselves room and fire in that format he once told me They dont care if they get out That is why Test cricket will always be the ultimate It tests whether youre a boy or a manIn that sense Chanderpaul was unquestionably a man with no time for the frivolity of the games newest shortest format Regrettably the future of Tests the ultimate is in doubt nowhere more so than in the West IndiesHis exit will be an anguished wrench as cricket has been his life He was little more than a toddler when his father Kemraj uncle Munilal and whoever else was available in his village of Unity on the outskirts of the Guyana capital Georgetown bowled to him hour after hour in a vain attempt to dislodge himHe first waddled to the wicket in outsized pads on his home ground of Bourda in Georgetown for his debut Test against England in 1994 aged 19 His unexpected selection caused a bit of a stir his response was a defiant 62It immediately defined the character of his batting over the next two decades He took 510 balls and close to 11 hours to compile an unbeaten 136 against India in Antigua in 2006 Two years later he kept Australia in the field for just under 26 hours all told over three Tests in the Caribbean without being dismissed rousing himself from a numbing blow to the helmet from Brett Lee to complete a hundred in KingstonIt was not to say that his batting was entirely onedimensional He can lay claim to the fifth fastest hundred in all Test cricket off 69 balls against Australia in Georgetown in 2003 His top ODI score of 150 against South Africa in East London in 1999 required only 136 ballsHis several foibles immediately identified him at the crease most prominent a stance that became so increasingly fronton it was generally described as crablike Whatever it was called his record was proof of its successWhen I started I was very sideon but would work across the crease and struggle for balance he explained confirming early video clips I gradually began to open up as I found I could balance a little betterCaptaincy in 2005He briefly experienced the infighting that can undermine any sports team when made West Indies captain in 2005 after a strike by senior players It was a very difficult period for me he recalled As captain I wasnt getting any support I couldnt focus on my own game It prompted his resignation Lara took over for his third stint in the postEver a man of few words his views on the game came across in quiet measured tones They were simple and invariably made sense although not often heeded by the modern generationIf you play bad shots youre going to get out he would say If you hit the ball in the air youre going to get out If you can bat to 50 you can bat to 100 He proved the theory 30 times in Tests another 11 in ODIsAlthough he can see plenty of natural talent among the batsmen who will fill his spot in West Indies teams of the future he detected little of the discipline to go with itI see guys batting well and scoring yet they still want to do something fancy he said The pitches in the West Indies may not be the best nowadays but thats when you should be fighting to survive not giving away you wicketSon risingThese are points he is trying to drill into those now coming along Among them is his son Tegenarine Brendon to family friends and fans who opened the batting for the West Indies in the U19 World Cup in 2014Also a lefthander he played alongside his father two seasons ago in the same Guyana team in the West Indies firstclass tournament His might well be the next Chanderpaul on a senior West Indies scoresheet If he follows half his fathers mantras he will be a significant additionBased on his 49 not outs in Tests selfishness is a tag sometimes attached to Chanderpaul senior It is a charge that ignores both the effect of his position at numbers 5 and 6 in a team with a fragile tailend and the question of how much worse the West Indies would have been without his reliability over an active span longer than any other Heavy defeats in successive six Tests already verify how much he is missedTony Cozier continues to be the voice of West Indies cricket