Phenomenal Chanderpaul named Guyana Cricketer of the Year

Run Machine scores another ton in 2008

The phenomenal Shivnarine Chanderpaul predictably won the Guyana Cricketer of the Year Award while Guyana under-17 leg-spinner Amir Khan copped the country’s Youth Cricketer of the Year Award (Roy Frederick’s trophy) at the Guyana Cricket Board’s annual awards ceremony at the Umana Yana in Georgetown on Friday night.

The 34-year-old Chanderpaul, the ICC Cricketer of the year and the world’s number one ranked Test batman, was unchallenged for Guyana’s top cricket award after another magnificent year with the bat for the regional team at the highest level.

The 16-year-old Khan represented the West Indies in the under-15 World Cup in the Caribbean this year after a successful tournament for Guyana in the regional under-15 series in Dominica.
The talented Khan who hails from the East Coast Demerara village of Enmore, plays for City side Everest and was on the Guyana stand-by list for the 2008 West Indies under-19 competition in Barbados and had eight wickets for 85 runs from 40 overs for Guyana in the just concluded Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board regional under-17 tournament in Trinidad.
Chanderpaul, a left-hander from Unity Village on the East Coast of Demerara, scored his 20th hundred on Saturday in his 114th Test match after making 76 in the first Test to so far average 202 in the present two-Test series in New Zealand with still the possibility of another innings in the series. Chanderpaul’s first Test unbeaten innings was his 31st not out and Steve Waugh (46), Alan Border (44), and Jacques Kallis (33) are the only batmen with more not outs than Chanderpaul who began his Test Career at his home ground Bourda against England in 1994.
Chanderpaul’s power of concentration is so great that he is the only batsmen with over 100 Tests never to have been stumped. Tendulkar, Kallis, Mark Waugh, Jayasuriya, Boon, Atherton, and Langer have been each stumped once in their illustrious careers.
He is the only batsman in the history of test cricket to face 1000 balls (1051) without getting dimissed. Walter Hammond, who faced 980, is second while Hanif Mohamed faced 930 balls and Kallis 908 balls without being dismissed.
Now residing in Florida USA, the Guyanese run-machine like wine is getting better with age and only Brian Lara (34), Sir Gary Sobers (26) and Sir Viv Richards (24) have scored more centuries than Chanderpaul’s 20. His 50 fifties is more than any other West Indian batsman and he shares the World Record for consecutive fifties (7) with Sir Everton Weekes and Andy Flowers with scores of 69, 74, 50, 116 not out, 136 not out, 70 and 104.
The gifted left-hander, who made his first-class debut in 1992 as a 16-year-old, also holds the World Record for being left not out twice in a Test match. He is the only batsman in test history to accomplish this feat 3 times; 128 and 97 vs England; 65 and 70 vs South Africa; 107 and 77 vs Australia.
After the retirement of Lara, Chanderpaul, who became the first West Indian captain to score a hundred in his first Test inning as captain when he made 203 not out against South Africa at Bourda in 2005, is now the backbone of the West Indies batting.
Jeffery Stollmeyer who made 104 in his 2nd innings against Australia and Clive Lloyd made 163 in his 2nd inning against India are the other two West Indians to score a ton in their first Test as Captain.
Chanderpaul also has the World Record for being the only batsman to bat for more than 1000 minutes between dismissals in Test cricket on more than one occasion. Chanderpaul has batted for more than 1000 minutes between dismissals four times in his illustrious career. He batted for just over sixteen hours between dismissals against Australia after batting for more than 1000 minutes between dismissals against India (twice) and England.
While his two-eyed stand is not the most elegant in the world, Chanderpaul is most times in perfect position when he makes contact with the ball and recently explained that Substance rather than style has been his ethos.
“Balance is important….. a steady head and not shuffling too much. I try to play the ball as late as possible and this (stance) is something I feel comfortable with at this point in my career” he said after passing Sobers to become the third highest Test runs scorer for the West Indies.
With 8,203 runs with one possible Test innings left in the year, Chanderpaul is only behind Lara (11,953) and Richards (8,540) on the West Indies list of all-time run-scorers. Chanderpaul, who is a devout Hindu, feels his power of concentration at the crease is an immense skill and a divine gift bestowed by Lord Shiva. His meticulous preparation, an intense work ethic and his love of batting have also contributed to his fantastic recent form for the West Indies.
Chanderpaul is the father of two sons and his eldest son Brandon, who is a talented 11-year-old left-hander with a temperament similar to his father’s, collected the Guyana Cricketer of the Year award for his dad who is in New Zealand with the regional team. The prestigious award was presented by Barbadian Professor Hilary Beckles who delivered the feature address at the ceremony.
Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is also in New Zealand with the West Indies team, won the Senior Guyana regional Cricketer of the Year Award (Clive Lloyd Trophy) while national four-day team selectee Shemroy Barrington received the Senior Domestic Cricketer of the year award (Rohan Kanhai trophy).
Leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo, who made his first-class debut this year, collected the Most Improved Player of the Year Award (Lance Gibbs Trophy) while Berbice side Young Warriors copped the Club of the Year Award.
Individual and Corporate Awards were also presented to persons and companies for their contribution to Guyana’s cricket while a special plaque was presented to Berbice female cricketer Erva Giddings in recognition of her selection on the West Indies Women’s team for their tour to Sri Lanka this year.
Berbice Teenage batsman Seon Hetimyer received a special Award for being the only Guyanese to score a century in this year’s regional under-19 tournament in Barbados while Essequibo’s Royan Fredericks (Best Fielder) and Berbice and Guyana under-19 Skipper Eugene La Fleur (MVP) also collected special awards for their contribution in the 2008 regional under-19 series for Guyana.
The Friendship Secondary School and Dolphin Secondary received trophies for being the winner and runners-up respectively in the National Female schools cricket competition organized by the Guyana Cricket Board, the National Sports Commission and the Ministry of Education.
Neal & Massey, GTM Fire & Life Insurance Company, UNICEF and the National Communications Network (NCN) received Corporate Awards while Television Personality Reeaz Hussain, International Umpire Clyde Duncan, Female Cricket administrator Emily Dodson, Curators Roger McDonald and Wazim Habib and reporter Ravendra Mandholall received individual awards.

Source: Kaieteur News