Good on ya Shiv

Some sportsmen thrive in adversity because it gives them a chance to see how good they really are.

It is easy to look impressive when you are riding on the coat tails of an all-conquering team, it is when the chips are down that the true champion comes out.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul has made a career out of battling the odds in impossible situations and he seems to have taken it to a new level in the latest test series against Australia.

Chanderpaul has continued to defy the Aussies every time they looked like they might run through the Windies batting line-up and it is largely due to the Guyanese left-hander that the series is still alive going in to the final test in Bridgetown.

Two centuries and a battling 77 not out on the final day of the Antigua test may prove futile in the overall outcome in the series but he has certainly dented that infamous Australian confidence.

Ramnaresh Sarwan certainly played his part with a captain’s century in Antigua but not since Michael Vaughan’s lone crusade in the 2002/3 Ashes has one man troubled the Aussies over a series in the manner of Chanderpaul.

Vaughan was at the peak of his powers in that series and I don’t think I have ever got the same pleasure out of watching someone bat as I did witnessing the Yorkshireman that winter.

He was simply mesmeric, with a grace and confidence that was all the more impressive considering the fact that his side were being dominated for the whole series.

Chanderpaul is something of a different animal, he may not look such a flowing player and indeed he is in many ways the antithesis of the great West Indian batsman of his generation Brian Lara.

‘Shiv’ is all about defiance as he fiercely defends his wicket while at the same time appearing quite calm and under no pressure.

This is a man who has spent over 1,000 minutes at the crease between dismissals on three occasions (noone else has done it more than once).

His un-West Indian approach has often seen him treated as something of an outsider by the cricketing establishment in his homeland but that has hardly seemed to affect him as he goes into his own single-minded world when he goes out to bat.

This has also led to accusations of selfishness but if every player showed such a focused desire to protect their own wicket, the team would reap the benefits.

Chanderpaul’s test record of 7795 runs in 111 matches at an average of over 48 is up there with the greats of the game but this is also a man who saves his best performances for the really tough times.

Call me old fashioned, but for all the glitz and glamour, sixes and cheerleaders of the IPL nothing in cricket has given me more entertainment in cricket over recent weeks than the stoic defiance of Chanderpaul, particularly because it was against the Aussies.