Ramnaresh Sarwan

	Words can't describe how well Shiv Chanderpaul has been playing © Getty Images

Hopefully by the end of Friday, the West Indies will have clinched the one-day international series against Zimbabwe with a victory at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo.

If they are able to do this it will give us a decisive 3-1 lead in the five matches with just one remaining on Sunday. It would be fantastic if the guys can go into that last game knowing that the main goal has already been achieved, though we would still obviously want to win that as well and leave Zimbabwe with an overall 4-1 triumph.

I’ve been following the Windies’ progress online as the matches are not being televised and, like all West Indians, I was disappointed with the result in the opening one-dayer in Harare.

However, I have to give Chris, Dwayne and the entire team full credit for the manner in which they rose to the challenge, winning the next two fixtures quite comfortably. It was great to see the team effort that went into both the second and third one-dayers, both in batting and bowling. Runako is playing well and Shiv – well, I can’t find the words to describe him – he has just been in outstanding form for the past year. It’s important that, as a senior member of the squad, he continues in this rich vein of scoring and that he gets support from other batsmen.

I want to congratulate Bravo on how he has handled the team thus far and I hope he can really flourish in the role of stand-in captain and that the players will continue to respond to his leadership. On Wednesday, I got a chance to speak to Chris and to find out about his injury. I want to wish him well in his recovery. He’s a major player in the Windies set-up – both as a batsman and captain – and I hope we will see him back on the field sooner rather than later.

As for me, my ankle is getting better and stronger each day. I’m having regular therapy and continue my jogging exercises. Next week should be a critical turning point for me as I’m looking forward to picking up a bat and having a knock for the first time since I was injured in mid-October. It has been raining a lot in Guyana so I plan to use the facilities at the National Gymnasium, which has a concrete surface, to get a hit. That should give me a good indicator of where I am on the road to resuming first-class cricket.

Right now, I’m still targeting the upcoming regional Carib Beer Cricket Series, starting next month, for my return to competitive cricket. It’s been a while and I’m itching to represent Guyana and, of course, the West Indies, again as soon as possible.