Cricinfo - Blogs - Different Strokes - 'Yeah, but it was only the West Indies'

You might be able to argue that Steve Waugh’s Australian teams were more complete with a champion legspinner to round the attack, but they were also only an excellent cricket team. The Windies of the 1980s were more than that. They tore up most of the principles established since Don Bradman’s time and showed us a new Test cricket; Australia may have done it better since, but they stood on the shoulders of literal giants.

No, “only the Windies” is not a phrase that can ever have a place in my vocabulary. West Indies can have a weaker-than-normal team and they can play badly, but they are still not “only the Windies”.

They were admittedly terrible in England last year, but the transformation in the way the team plays since Chris Gayle’s elevation to the captaincy has been marvellous to see.

Winning the First Test in Port Elizabeth when they visited South Africa at the turn of the year was entirely merited, and now they’ve given Australia a great run for their money. Australia may not be quite the force they were with an undercooked McGill in the side, but the Windies of a year ago would have failed to expose any vulnerabilities at all. The bowling attack may not be up to the awesome standards of 1984, but it now stands comparison with any other country’s, and they now field as though they mean it.

The strange thing is that their batting hero, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, is the unlikeliest Caribbean idol ever. Possessed of a batting style best appreciated on the radio, he sells his wicket so dearly that in the present financial climate opponents simply cannot raise the cash required to dislodge him.

He has no business being a West Indian middle order batsman: he ought to be appearing in 1920s Roses matches so that Neville Cardus can construct myths about him being hewn from millstone grit.

Since the beginning of the series against England last year, which constitutes the post-Lara era for West Indies, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has scored over 1200 Test runs at the phenomenal average of 105.42. In 22 innings he has passed 50 fourteen times and converted five of those to hundreds. In the same period, only Sourav Ganguly and Pietersen have scored more - but they have had many more innings and average less than half as much.

Rahul Dravid and Jaques Kallis play for more successful teams and get more plaudits as a result, but for me, Chanderpaul is currently cricket’s most indomitable batsman. They may write fewer calypsos these days, but he’s a little pal of mine, that Guyanese man Shivnarine.

Nice piece, Mike. You're right about Gayle, and also about Chanderpaul, over the past year or so, he is clearly the best 'rock' or 'wall' and in the form of his life. Over their full careers, Dravid & Kallis are still ahead though. The WI need to develop some consistency now to get back into the top league. In SA they looked great in the 1st Test & really ambushed us, but then unfortunately fell apart as the series progressed. World cricket needs a good WI team, and as you say they seem to be on the right track. The governing body, which was a mess, seems to have improved also sine the World Cup, and maybe John Dyson is turning out to be the right coach.

Mike Holmans has hit the nail on the head. He is the best all round batsman in the world after Tendulkar, Mohd Yousuf and Dravid. On current record he is the best batsman in the world. Ponting averages 3 in India after 10 tests. On turning tracks Ponting struggles against good spin, so does Kallis. Hayden has a problem against good swing bowling and top spin. Chanderpaul has been overshadowed by Lara and own health. If Chanderpaul had been physically stronger he would have been one of the greatest ever. Windies have a gem they should cherish.

Well said Mike, too little is made of guys like Chanderpaul whose great efforts are often in vain. You mentioned Waugh's Australians standing on the shoulders of giants, the greatest of these was probably Allan Border, a batsman in a similar mould to Chanderpaul who raised the Aussies from the pits and made Mark Taylor's and Steve Waugh's jobs look easy. I bet the Kiwis were pining for the likes of Mark Richardson this tour to sure up their crumbling top order...none of these guys are scintillating viewing, but there is something engaging in their struggles against the odds which just doesn't exist watching "eye" players like Mal Loye take the ball from a foot ouside off stump and plant it in the crowd over midwicket...Of course the great players have a combination of both skills...but grit in the face of adversity is a much underated quality these days...cheers

Mike

How right you are, these things go in cycles, WI had their turn, Oz have now had their turn, India may be on the verge of having their turn (who knows?) England have always seemed to pass their turn to someone else??

But, All these teams had someone of Chanderpauls quality to consistently either get them out of jail or hammer in the nail.

Chanderpaul could and would be a shoe-in into any current test side. Long may it continue!! As around his ability and determination WI can rebuild again. Gayle might add the Calypso but Shiv adds to iron.

Cheers

Excellent piece !! It almost brought a tear to my eye.
I used to look forward to our regular pulverisation by those awesome, magnificent Windies. To me, they were somehow able to boil the skills of cricket down to their purest essence.

They had fast bowlers who bowled fast.
They had batsmen who just loved to hit the ball and they had fielders who fielded like they enjoyed it.

Meanwhile, we had "fast" bowlers who trundled away at military medium. Our batsmen were having a good day if nobody got killed and they somehow managed to nurdle 200 runs in 3 sessions. Finally, our fielding, compared to the Windies, was like the Mr. Magoo 11 on ice skates.

But we loved the Windies coz they usually let us win the Sydney Test.

Ahh, those were the days.

It warms the heart of any test fan to see the Windies on the up. They have fast bowlers again and I love to watch Shiv bat, but then again, I loved Steve Waugh too, some of us love a battler.
Perhaps they'll give a spinner a chance to develop and rediscover a lost facet of their play.
Not sure about Gayle though, sure he slaps it around in entertaining ways but he needs to produce a greater volume of runs for mine. Gilchrist, Pieterson and Ponting all give it a wallop but produce(d) good numbers too. It wouldn't bother but Gayle seems to have almost as much talent.

While I don't agree with your assessment that Chanderpaul is better than Dravid and Kallis, there is no doubt that he and Lara have been by far the dominant West Indian batsmen of the last decade, scoring innumerable runs in lost causes. However, just because Dravid and Kallis play in more successful teams, this does not mean that Chanderpaul's batting overrides theirs. Dravid in particular has played many wonderful innings home and away, on green and crumbling tracks, and in winning and losing causes. Dravid and Kallis should not be penalized just because the rest of their team actually consists of a mix of reliable and great players. Indeed, they have made a reputation as great players and have won their teams many matches. As well as this, Dravid has also stood out as a beacon of how cricketers can be good role models, with his unassuming, kind character and the respect he shows for the opposition, officials and laws by not being abusive. This definitely puts him ahead in my book.

Shiv is brilliant, he just always looks panicked which is probably why he places such a high value on his wicket. How often has been in a position to threaten the record 2nd innings chase? Often. Of similar ilk is Sarwan, for a period a contender for Lara's understudy. Now if Gayle fires, Sarwan too and with Shiv's current dominance the likes of Marshall would surely make the Windies as potent a batting line up as India once promised. They just need to click, Windies resurgence is well underway as is South Africa's. Test cricket never looked as promising as it does today.

I am not going to comment on what you said, which I completely agree with, but how you said it.
I have yet to read more pretty prose about cricket. My favorite paragraph had got to be: "The strange thing is that their batting hero, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, is the un likeliest Caribbean idol ever. Possessed of a batting style best appreciated on the radio, he sells his wicket so dearly that in the present financial climate opponents simply cannot raise the cash required to dislodge him."
Awesome. Keep up the good writing. I look forward to reading more of your stuff.

In the same breath that we are all paying flowery plaudits to Chanderpaul (and rightly so), we must realize that this team also comprises players like

Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is such an under performer and has never ever put his hand up for the West Indies when the chips were really down.

Its quite amazing to see the sheer talent go to waste due to lack of application (or is it lack of it).

Yes there are intense political pressures that are there but each time there is a crisis its either Gayle or Shiv to step up the rest are just the chorus line.

In the same breath that we are all paying flowery plaudits to Chanderpaul (and rightly so), we must realise that this team also comprises players like

Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is such an under performer and has never ever put his hand up for the West Indies when the chips were really down.

Its quite amazing to see the sheer talent go to waste due to lack of application (or is it lack of it).

Yes there are intense political pressures that are there but each time there is a crisis its either Gayle or Shiv to step up the rest are just the chorus line.

First of all, this was an excellently written piece...so kudos on that. The Windies have always had a "stable" middle order batsman...from headley..to joe solomon and basil butcher, which evolved into larry gomes and then of course the indomitable "paddams." Taking this into consideration, you would see that at some point in all their times playing cricket, they were able to adapt and play the game necessary for the team's greater good. this however, should not take any shine off what the Tiger has done for West Indian fans...and indeed world cricket, taking on the mighty Aussies almost singlehandedly.

Shiv has been unbelievable for several years now. I must slightly disagree with 'Aviandgubbins'.
When you have runs on the board and faith in the rest of your batters you have less pressure than a batsman who KNOWS he is the last chance for his team. So someone like Ponting that has had Hayden, Gilly, Waughs, Langer etc in the team and Dravid that has Sehwag, Ganguly, Tenders, Laxman etc Usually have far less to do or far less presure than Shiv or Lara before him. That doesnt mean it undervaules Dravid or Ponting or any good batsmen playing in a great batting team, it just increases our respect for the champion batsman playing in a weak batting team.

Well,the one thing that strikes me about most great players is that they have batted at ONE postion ( max two ) all their life. But Chanderpaul has never been able to make a position his own. Infact from the late 90s there has been hardly any stability in the west indies side. even in the one dayers- chanderpaul has been an excellent opener ( at times ) and also batted vry well lower down ( as seen in the last series against Srilanka ). Pity he could not settle doen at one position. would have made him a lot more consistent batsman of his time.

First, thanks to all those who have been kind enough to offer compliments - I just hope I shall be able to keep you similarly entertained in the future.

To those who felt I was slighting Kallis or Dravid, I only said "most indomitable", not "best". I don't remember, for instance, either Dravid or Kallis being poleaxed by a blow to the head and then getting up to complete a century as Chanders did a few weeks ago. On the other hand, I'd far rather watch Dravid, because Shiv's batting style hurts my eyes.

I saw the Dravid 148 Shyam referred to, and left the ground knowing that he had already effectively won the match. Even so, I still don't rate it as highly as Vengsarkar's 102 on the same ground 16n years earlier.

Excellent piece. Well done, Mike. As a boy in the late 60s/early 70s the Windies coming on tour was always cause for excitement. And I never got to see them when they were in world-domination mode. Test cricket is a poorer creature without a potent team from the Caribbean. Good to see them making serious strides back into contention. As for Chanderpaul, no praise is high enough. He is a veritable colossus, and without him providing backbone to their batting the Windies would have been awful in recent series. Time for some of the other guys with bats to really step up and get things back to where they should be. On that note I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Gayle bat down the order if Marshall and Chattergoon could mature into a solid pair of openers. He seems like a perfect ODI opener but is too rash to open at test level against top-drawer seam and swing bowling.

Excellent tribute to the unsung hero of WI cricket post Lara.

If Shiv and Lara had a team of mere decent batters to partner them, every single record would have been broken.

Sadly for WI Sarwan, like his former countryman, Hooper, is one of the biggest underacheiver in the history of WI cricket.

As for Gayle, his batting, post captaincy is getting worse by the day, and I dare say he can't make the team as a batsman.

Interesting article to read and Holmans has rightly pointed out what I've been saying since some time now: that West Indies as a team are finally beginning to turn the corner. Anyone who saw the Frank Worrel Trophy would agree that it was only the experience and Brett Lee that set the teams apart. Hopefully we should have a pretty good West Indies team in a few years time.

'Only the West Indies' was another interesting point. I confess I never saw the all conquering sides from the Carribean. For fans like me who grew up in the late 90s, the 'Mighty West Indies' seems more legend than fact (despite reruns on Cricket Classics). I find it hard to believe that the West Indies ever dominated the game in a manner even a Warne-McGrath strong Australia never quite matched. Ever since I started following the game, I've only seen them hobbling from one defeat to another...which hopefully, will soon change.

I believe Chanderpaul is next only to Sachin & Lara in this generation of batsmen and is better than both Ponting & Dravid. I have never seen Dravid dominating high quality bowling(The Mcgraths, Warnes et al) like Chanderpaul can on his day. And unlike Ponting, Chanderpaul is equally adept at playing fast and spin bowling. Moreover He is much more than a flat track bully & murderer of mediocre bowling attacks unlike Ponting. Good to see some recognition for 1 of the 2 most underrated batsmen of this era(The other is but of course Very Very Special Laxman). Kudos to you Mike.

Mohan, your assessment is rather extreme. "A bunch of islands with a few million population" is a pejorative description which is neither here nor there. All the other countries, including the sub-continental giants populated by hundreds of millions and financed by billions, continue to flounder in their efforts to mount a consistent and credible challenge to the all-conquering Aussies. Hence, cricket-lovers hope the innate cricketing flair of the Caribbeans will be revived. Maybe Allen Stanford will succeed where others haven't, even if it is only in T-20s. We can only hope. As for the interests of the populace, sure they follow many sports because their sportsmen do excel in athletics, basketball etc unlike India which has never won a single individual gold medal in the Olympics, a shameful statistic if ever there was one.

On current form Chanderpaul is the best batsman in the world, and I think of him as West Indies' equivalent of Allan Border- similar situation, similar grafting approach, and almost identical stats. He's certainly as important to West Indies' current fortunes as Border was to Australia's 20 years ago.

For those saying that Sarwan's an underachiever- well, you're right, but Sarwan might finally be turning the corner. He averaged 46 in the recent Australia series, and scored a match-winning century against Sri Lanka before that. I think with a line-up of Gayle, Chattergoon, Sarwan, Marshall, Chanderpaul, Bravo, Ramdin, Taylor, Benn/Jaggernaught, Edwards and Powell/Sammy, they might finally become a competitive unit.

Mohan, you're nuts.
Would you suggest to FIFA that they no longer schedule any matches involving Brazil because the country is too populous?
You're right though that the rest of the cricketing world expects great things from a few tiny islands spread out over a thousand miles of sea, separated by poor inter-island transport, insular governments and poverty, and with a combined poulation of 6 million. Greatness will return, but slowly, since there is not much reserve; nor is there the indignation against oppression that fuelled previous teams.