- Delmar photo
Shivnarine Chanderpaul drives on his way to 128 not out against England at Lord's yesterday.
Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
LONDON:
THERE IS a day in every man's life that he will remember to his dying day and for Shivnarine Chanderpaul that day was yesterday - the third day of the first Test between the West Indies and England at Lord's.
Going to bat on the second afternoon with the West Indies on 127 for three before slipping to 129 for four replying to England's formidable first innings score, the pencil left-hander from Guyana battled to 41 at stumps and yesterday, with the West Indies resuming on 208 for four, still trailing England by 360 runs and in a grave danger of being forced to follow-on, he batted on and on for a fine, undefeated 128.
In the process he prevented the follow-on and with the scoreboard reading England 568 and 71 without loss and the West Indies 416, with England leading by 223 and two days to go, left his team with a chance of saving the Test match.
In 77 Test matches before this one, the 29-year-old Chander-paul had a record of 10 centuries - the majority of which were crafty masterpieces, a few of which were stroke-playing gems.
When it comes to value, however, when it comes to importance, when it comes to defending the pride of a people, none of them, not a single one, compared with yesterday's display when, with the best of England, pacers Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff plus left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, attacking him, with thousands of hometown fans cheering them on, he batted undefeated for 285 minutes, faced 202 deliveries, and stroked nine boundaries while scoring 87 runs on the way to his first century at the game's headquarters, his second against England, and the 11th of his 10-year-old career.
The entire innings was a performance he will tell his grandchildren about. It was an innings that lasted for 384, an innings during which he faced 270 deliveries, an innings during which his runs, including his 15 boundaries, came not from powerful, exciting shots, but with so much at stake, with so much on his shoulder, from careful, delicate strokes.
There were, however, a few strokes of class, and the full house, Englishmen and West Indians alike, will tell their grandchildren of the cover-drive off Hoggard, the extra-cover drive off Hoggard, and the drive, also through the covers off Giles.
Those were all in the first 30 minutes, and those who were late, those who were unfortunate to miss them, were lucky that he played two more just before lunch when Flintoff was called in shortly after noon with the score on 276 for five.
They were successive deliveries and they were both front-foot drives - one through extra-cover and through the covers.
Chanderpaul did not stand alone, however.
TWO LOVELY PARTNERSHIPS
After losing his overnight partner when Dwayne Bravo, the solid Bravo of the previous afternoon, attempted to square-drive Simon Jones, edged a catch to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones and departed for 44 at 264 for five after a partnership of 125, 'Tiger' found two standard bearers in veteran Ridley Jacobs and young Omari Banks with whom he shared two lovely partnerships one of 63 with the left-handed Jacobs, and one of 72 with Banks.
The 36-year-old Jacobs, playing his 64th Test match, was confident, and remembering that they were played at Lord's, and with his team on the run at the time at that, he too may tell his grandchildren of two strokes he played - a hook off Flintoff, who wrapped up the innings with three quick wickets after tea, and a straight drive off the wicketless Harmison.
Chanderpaul apart, however, the memory of Lord's yesterday was the batting of the 22-year-old Banks.
Batting in his seventh Test match, Banks, who was dropped by Graham Thorpe off Giles at long-on with his score on 21, was solid in defence, he was brilliant in attack, and before he was bowled by Flintoff off his pads for 45 at 399 for seven, he too played some shots to remember.
One was a front-foot drive, on the rise, to the extra-cover boundary off Simon Jones; one was a sweetly-timed drive off Giles to the point boundary; and one, when he chipped and drove, was a front-foot drive off Giles to the extra-cover boundary.
When England batted a second time, Tino Best opened the bowling for the West Indies, and although left-hander Marcus Trescothick drove the first two deliveries for boundaries - one to extra-cover and one to cover, even though England batted through 22 overs without losing a wicket, the West Indies bowling, as far as length and direction were concerned, was somewhat better than day one when England chipped to 391 for two.
