Solitary Shivnarine Chanderpaul just happy to keep on batting

The No1 batsman in the world admits it’s always about him against the rest of the world, whether it’s battles with personalities, the media or leading the West Indies

By Anna Kessel

Shivnarine Chanderpaul rarely gives interviews. It is remarkable that the ICC Cricketer of the Year and one of the best batsmen this decade has so little written about him. “I don’t like to chat,” he says with a shrug, his features retreating further under the peak of his cap. There is a pause. The dogged batsman who loves to stand at the crease and bat for hours is equally good at waiting out a silence.

While plenty of people can describe Chanderpaul’s playing style or tell you about his records – prime among them is that he is the only player to bat for more than 1,000 minutes before being dismissed, four times – ask them to describe “Shiv” the man, and they would struggle. “I’m a private person,” says the 34-year-old. “I’m reserved, not ­outgoing. I don’t trouble anybody. I had some bad experiences with ­interviews. I said something and they changed it up and made it look bad so after a while I decided to hell with it.” Since then the Guyanese has kept himself to himself.

There are few subjects that will shake Chanderpaul out of his private world, but Kevin Pietersen is one of them. The two batsmen are polar opposites – ­Pietersen loves the limelight, Chanderpaul detests “glamour”; Pietersen loves to take risks, Chanderpaul would rather stay at the crease. They meet again at Lord’s on Wednesday as England take on West Indies. At the mention of KP, ­Chanderpaul’s face grows very dark. On the recent West Indies tour Pietersen took a swipe at him, accusing him of “playing for himself”. It was a comment that Chanderpaul did not take lightly.

“You can’t assume or think someone’s just playing for themselves. I don’t know where he gets his stories from … I can’t be playing for myself when I’m in Trinidad trying to save a match. Scoring 140 and I’m playing for myself?” Chanderpaul’s expression is one of utter disgust.

Did Pietersen’s comment make him angry? “What he said just motivated me more. It definitely made me better at what I was doing. If people come at me I just want to make sure that I can be out there even longer. You get angry and you just want to grind somebody out there longer, that’s how I do my job.” ­Chanderpaul folds his arms, his outburst a rare moment of expression.

Perhaps Pietersen’s comment hit a nerve. No one could justifiably accuse Chanderpaul of not being a team player – in 1994 he famously helped Brian Lara break Sir Garry Sobers’s Test record of 365 not out against England – but there is an ­undeniably solitary air about him.

Since he was a little boy ­learning to play cricket in Unity Village – a tiny fishing town on the north coast of ­Guyana – it has always been “Shiv” against the rest of the world. When he was eight years old he would stand at one end of a bumpy strip, a roughly cut cricket pitch grazed on by goats, and fend off concrete balls. Grown men from the village would turn out to bowl at him, by the end of the afternoon he would be covered in bruises, carefully soaking his skin in warm water to ease the sting. His father said it was training, to toughen him up.

“I think my father gave them a ­challenge to hit me and everybody wanted to,” he says, “I had to defend myself. They threw concrete balls, it hurts when they hit you.” Did he complain? “I couldn’t tell my dad anything,” he says, laughing. “He had a big wood inside waiting for me. He said if you want to play cricket you’ve got to tough it out.”

This is the reason for his unusually open and crab-like stance. “I had to fend off these short balls, so I had my stance from then. Jumping out the way or shielding my body. Later, I tried to get side-on, but I found I kept falling over.”

Chanderpaul spent a childhood immersed in cricket. His house was next door to the cricket pitch and every day after school he would slip out back and set up the nets, waiting for his father to come home from a day’s fishing to start practice. Together they would play on a variety of surfaces – the uneven field, flat concrete and the wet sand of the beach – learning how to respond to different deliveries.

“He used to throw me a compressed rubber ball on the sand at the water’s edge where the ball would take off very fast. We played on the concrete for bounce and then the beach for pace. I’ve been doing all this preparation since then. My father pushed me. He wanted me to be able to go out and fight, grab it and do whatever you have to do to make it go your way. This was a mentality he instilled in me from a long time.” The two remain close. “Sometimes he still tries to tell me things, you shouldn’t get out and dah dah dah, or I have to try and score a little bit quicker, dah dah dah.” He rolls his eyes.

Strict as Khemraj Chanderpaul was with his son, missing school to play cricket did not warrant a beating and Chanderpaul junior happily skipped class most days. “As soon as the teacher back turned, she don’t see me again,” he says. “She’d look out the window and see me on the ground playing. My sister just used to pick up my schoolbag and bring it home.” By then his parents already knew their son would make it to the highest level of the game and Chanderpaul never finished high school.

Sitting in a luxurious hotel in the ­Derbyshire hills, Chanderpaul ­chuckles as his West Indies team-mates file through the lobby clutching grease-­spotted paper bags filled with spicy chicken and rice. His eyes widen when he hears that the Jamaica Olympic team take their own chef with them when they travel. “I wish we had that,” he says, wistfully. When he played for Durham last season he had to manage with his own cooking. “I try,” he says with a grin. “I don’t know if it’s cooked too well, but I try.”

Chanderpaul describes Guyanese ­specials such as cook-up rice and metemgee, his recipe instructions as methodical and evenly paced as his batting. “It’s like a soup,” he says, “with coconut milk. You put ­provision and maybe chicken or whatever meat you want. Then you just boil it until it’s finished. Then you put some dumplings in it. We call that metemgee.” He is a homely soul. He misses his wife’s home cooking and their 15-month-old son, Brandon.

It is impossible not to ­wonder how this quiet, intensely private man ever captained West Indies. Four years ago he was given the task after a sponsorship row ended in nine ­players – ­including Lara – being dropped. ­Chanderpaul admits it was not a role he enjoyed. “When I gave it up it felt like a big weight off my shoulders,” he says. “As a captain you have more responsibilities, you have to say more things, you have to be more open, you can’t be quiet, you have to try and get involved in everything. At times it can make you stressed out, doing these things over and over.

“You don’t have time to focus on your own game, it’s too much. There was a point where I couldn’t actually focus on my batting. I was worrying about things, not winning, all these things play up on your mind and you just can’t get things right.

“I had a run for a year and I knew things weren’t going my way and it wasn’t good for West Indies cricket so I wanted to let it go and give somebody else a chance.”

His mental preparation for a game is a process so cerebral it is no surprise that he struggled to communicate with his players. “Before I step on the park I sit in my room and play the balls in my head. I bat each ball in my head. When I was a child we never had any television to watch replays so you have to have it in your head. Sometimes I still don’t look at the tapes because I’m so much ­accustomed to replay things in my head. I can replay ball by ball, remembering the mistakes I make.”

Chanderpaul is the longest-­serving player in the side – he made his Test debut against England 15 years ago – and still his sense of isolation in the team is significant. As a Hindu one of his first challenges was overcoming that ­cultural difference. “I don’t eat beef or pork because of my religion, so I’d turn up at the ground and not know if there would be any food for me. You’d have a tough session and sometimes there would only be rice or a bit of bread.

“From when I joined the team, ­everybody would play in the field and then after that everybody would just go and look after their own business. Together you’re as a team and you help each other, but afterwards everybody just gone after their own business. That’s the way it’s been in this team for most of the time I’ve been here.”

His attitude and approach to the game is unique. When he scored the fourth-fastest Test century, against Australia in 2003, he was disappointed that he had not stayed at the crease longer. “I was surprised at myself when the guy announced I scored 100. I was like, huh? But I would have preferred to bat for longer and for that reason I didn’t enjoy it as much.”

His recent form put him top of the ICC rankings, an event that coincided with his resignation from the captaincy and the retirement of Lara. “I guess if I think about it, after Brian left it was about having more responsibility. It is now more mine to make the younger players understand that this is what it takes.”

That stepping up reaped rewards as the ICC handed him the coveted cricketer of the year award in 2008, a moment of huge significance. “It was really big for me. I never expected to win something like that knowing we have so many good players out there. To actually come out on top, it’s a great ­honour.” True to character he skipped the awards ceremony at Grosvenor House in London, preferring to play out a crucial championship decider for Durham.

Out of the limelight, ­sticking at the crease, Chanderpaul is unlikely to ever change. “I like to do things my way,” he says, and as the best batsman in the world right now, who could question him?

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was speaking to promote Sky Sports’ live and high-­definition coverage of England v West Indies starting on Wednesday.

Source: Guardian News

144 thoughts on “Solitary Shivnarine Chanderpaul just happy to keep on batting”

  1. Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO?
    I’m trying to get my site to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing
    very good results. If you know of any please share. Thank you!

    I saw similar text here: Wool product

  2. This is the right website for anybody who would like to understand this topic. You know a whole lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I personally would want to…HaHa). You certainly put a new spin on a topic that’s been written about for ages. Wonderful stuff, just wonderful.

  3. You are so awesome! I do not suppose I’ve truly read a single thing like this before. So wonderful to find another person with original thoughts on this topic. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This site is something that is needed on the web, someone with a bit of originality.

  4. Lawrence Hill, aged 77, prominent resident of the Provo community and a protracted-time office holder in Sevier County, was killed in a two car accident Wednesday, August 24, on U.S.

  5. Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thanks, However I am having issues with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I can’t join it. Is there anybody else having the same RSS issues? Anyone who knows the solution will you kindly respond? Thanx.

  6. Kinder Surprise is a enjoyable deal with for younger kids and the young at heart (the phrase “kinder” means “kids” in German.) The milk chocolate egg comes with a small plastic capsule inside; open the capsule, and you will discover a small toy to play with while you finish consuming the chocolate.

  7. When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new surveys are added- checkbox and today every time a comment is added I purchase four emails with the same comment. Is there in whatever way you can eliminate me from that service? Thanks!

  8. Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon on a daily basis. It’s always interesting to read through content from other writers and practice something from their sites.

  9. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who has been conducting a little homework on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I discovered it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending time to talk about this subject here on your site.

  10. I simply had to thank you very much once again. I’m not certain what I could possibly have followed in the absence of the type of ideas contributed by you concerning my theme. It actually was a frightful difficulty for me, nevertheless finding out the very professional manner you resolved the issue forced me to jump over joy. Now i’m thankful for your work and even hope that you are aware of a great job you’re doing training people today thru your blog post. I know that you have never got to know any of us.

  11. Hi! I could have sworn I’ve visited this site before but after looking at a few of the posts I realized it’s new to me. Regardless, I’m certainly happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back frequently.

  12. I am continually amazed by the amount of information available on this subject. What you presented was well researched and well worded in order to get your stand on this across to all your readers.

  13. You decided not to enter into great detail, nevertheless, you presented the essentials I desired to get me through. If you are trying to find started out with a task this is often the type of details that’s needed. Having more writers be part of the dialogue might be a great thing.

  14. Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I will certainly return.

  15. Hey great website! Does running a blog like this take a great deal of work? I have very little knowledge of computer programming however I was hoping to start my own blog in the near future. Anyways, should you have any suggestions or tips for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off subject however I just had to ask. Thank you!

  16. I blog often and I truly appreciate your information. This great article has really peaked my interest. I’m going to take a note of your website and keep checking for new information about once a week. I opted in for your Feed as well.

  17. Spot lets start work on this write-up, I actually feel this site requirements considerably more consideration. I’ll oftimes be once again to see additional, thanks for that information.

  18. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I’ll certainly be back.

  19. After looking at a number of the blog posts on your site, I truly appreciate your technique of writing a blog. I book marked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my website too and tell me your opinion.

  20. Those are yours alright! . We at least need to get these people stealing images to start blogging! They probably just did a image search and grabbed them. They look good though!

  21. Superb page! I personally had a new scanning. I hope to read simple things much from your business. It looks like you may have superb details and furthermore thought. My organization is quite shocked due to this critical information.

  22. Hello, i think that i noticed you visited my blog so i came to “go back the favor”.I’m trying to to find things to improve my web site!I suppose its good enough to make use of a few of your ideas!!

  23. Good ? I should certainly pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs as well as related information ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it at all. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, web site theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Nice task..

  24. Hi there, I do think your web site may be having internet browser compatibility issues. Whenever I look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine however, if opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Apart from that, great website.

  25. Hello I want to to share the remark here regarding you to be able to let you know just how much i actually Liked this particular read. I have to elope to aTurkey Day Supper however desired to depart you a simple remark. We saved a person So will end up being coming back subsequent function to see more of yer high quality articles. Continue the quality work.

  26. With the desire of people right now to remain lovely and youthful always, they have been asked to use the several Hgh products in the market nowadays. Hgh products have been proven to be efficient in lessening or stopping the indications of aging from developing. But with the several products offered right now, it is advisable that you go through Human growth hormone reviews to assist you pick which best suits your need.

  27. Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people think about worries that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  28. Unquestionably believe that which you said. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the net the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people think about worries that they plainly do not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  29. This is a good tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere. Short but very precise info… Thank you for sharing this one. A must read post!

  30. Hi, I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbledupon it 😉 I will come back yet again since I book marked it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide others.

  31. I enjoy you because of your whole work on this blog. My daughter loves engaging in research and it’s really simple to grasp why. Most people know all of the compelling way you give vital items by means of the web blog and invigorate participation from the others on that subject matter while our own girl is always discovering a whole lot. Take pleasure in the remaining portion of the year. You’re carrying out a powerful job.

  32. Nice post. I discover some thing much harder on various blogs everyday. Most commonly it is stimulating to read content off their writers and rehearse something at their store. I’d opt to use some using the content in my small weblog no matter whether you don’t mind. Natually I’ll offer you a link with your internet weblog. Thank you sharing.

  33. I was just looking for this information for some time. After six hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your website. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative sites in top of the list. Generally the top sites are full of garbage.

  34. I actually wanted to make a brief word to say thanks to you for all the superb guidelines you are writing on this website. My considerable internet investigation has now been paid with good quality facts to exchange with my family members. I ‘d express that most of us site visitors are extremely fortunate to be in a useful website with very many brilliant people with interesting pointers. I feel really fortunate to have discovered the site and look forward to many more entertaining moments reading here. Thanks once more for a lot of things.

  35. Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon on a daily basis. It’s always helpful to read content from other authors and practice a little something from their web sites.

  36. Hi, There’s no doubt that your site could possibly be having browser compatibility problems. When I take a look at your web site in Safari, it looks fine however when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Apart from that, fantastic website.

  37. i believe,Cherish is often an new technology, the necessity to usually make improvements to. Exclusively, this kind of discovery isn’t in final summary is a few other pioneering technological advances, it’s not so much patent, possibly grant everyday people aside.

  38. After going over a handful of the blog articles on your web site, I truly appreciate your technique of blogging. I book-marked it to my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my website as well and let me know how you feel.

  39. I’m amazed, I must say. Rarely do I come across a blog that’s both equally educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something which not enough folks are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something relating to this.

  40. Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite justification seemed to be on the web the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get irked while people consider worries that they plainly don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks xrumer

  41. Unquestionably believe that which you said. Your favorite justification seemed to be on the web the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get irked while people consider worries that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  42. Having read this I thought it was really enlightening. I appreciate you finding the time and effort to put this short article together. I once again find myself personally spending a lot of time both reading and posting comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!

  43. When I originally left a comment I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now whenever a comment is added I recieve 4 emails with the same comment. Is there an easy method you can remove me from that service? Appreciate it.

  44. This is the right web site for anyone who hopes to find out about this topic. You realize a whole lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject that has been written about for decades. Wonderful stuff, just great.

  45. Hi there! I could have sworn I’ve visited this blog before but after going through a few of the articles I realized it’s new to me. Regardless, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back regularly.

  46. An intriguing discussion is definitely worth comment. I believe that you ought to publish more on this issue, it may not be a taboo subject but typically folks don’t discuss such subjects. To the next! Kind regards!

  47. Hi there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this web site before but after going through some of the articles I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely pleased I found it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back frequently.

  48. Having read this I thought it was rather informative. I appreciate you spending some time and energy to put this article together. I once again find myself personally spending a significant amount of time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!

  49. Spot on with this write-up, I really feel this amazing site needs far more attention. I’ll probably be back again to read more, thanks for the advice.

  50. An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who had been conducting a little homework on this. And he actually ordered me dinner simply because I found it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time to discuss this subject here on your blog.

Leave a Comment