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West
Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul bats during a practice
session in the indoor nets at the 3Ws Oval in Bridgetown,
Barbados, on Saturday. The West Indies team will play four
Test Matches and five One-Day Internationals against South
Africa in the Caribbean.
AP
Photo
Shivnarine
Chanderpaul has been named captain of the West Indies cricket
team for the First Test in the series against South Africa.
More than likely, he will be the captain for the entire series,
as it would be another unsettling shock for the team, if he
is changed during the series, whatever the results of continuing
negotiations between the WICB and Digicel.
Let us for a while, bypass the current discord and deal with
Chanderpaul and the captaincy.
Captain of the West Indies cricket team is more than just
the man who makes the changes and who inspires his team to
perform above themselves. He is probably one of the internationally
best known West Indian personalities. He is better known and
more easily recognised in any of the Commonwealth countries
than any of the Caribbean Prime Ministers.
There has always been some reserve about Chanderpaul as captain
of the West Indies team for other than strictly cricket matters.
He is seen as a overly simple person, comparatively unschooled
and considered too unsophisticated to represent the Caribbean
internationally. He has been made to sound and look dumb in
interviews as he is not a naturally easy speaker and now he
has to be the spokesman of the team and of all of us internationally.
That is the minus as far as Chanderpaul is concerned.
In cricket, there is no more determined competitor. If he
can pass on some of his iron will to his team, he would have
gone a long way to justifying his elevation to the captaincy.
Against South Africa, the team which a year ago had demolished
the best West Indies team, Chanderpaul now takes a team, minus
seven of its probable starters, to attempt to turn the tables.
His success or failure will be determined, not by whether
or not he wins the series but by how he motivates his young
“upstarts” to play out of their skins.
In the past, West Indies had suffered under the captaincy
of the greatest player that ever hit a boundary, Sir Gary
Sobers. Yet, under Clive Lloyd, who took over shortly after
Sobers left and was not nearly as impressive as a player,
the team blossomed into the best that there has ever been.
There were many contributory factors.
The advent of the Packer Series, which threw them onto their
own resolve in a hostile and very competitive arena, where
pay was connected to performance, must have been stimuli.
Pride in being “Black and Beautiful” which was a
factor then, contributed as well. And the team practised with
determination and purpose, trained with such vigour that they
became the benchmark for the fitness level of the other international
teams which followed.
Chanderpaul is in a tight situation. Here he is with a comparatively
young, inexperienced team, which everybody expects to be massacred
by the South Africans. As daunting as that appears, he knows
that, if he could get those young men to show the doubters
that they are better than they had been labelled, he would
have done wonders for the team and for himself. Not least
he would have lifted West Indian spirits and struck a blow
for the men promoted from the ranks to be the Commissioner.
This commissioner has won the respect of all the men with
whom he has played, as much for his ability as for his whole
hearted effort at all times. Chanderpaul is not a genius as
a batsman but he sticks to the basics, does what he knows
he can do and always gives his best.
That is not only seen in his batting. He is not nearly as
good a natural athlete as many on his team but, he is one
of the sharpest and most reliable fieldsmen. That is not by
accident as those on the team will recognise. Chanderpaul
practises as intelligently as anybody ever did and he reaps
the rewards with remarkably consistent performance.
He now follows a captain who is undoubtedly one of the best
batsmen the region has produced, a cricket student and a as
colourful a player as ever played for the Windies. Like Sobers,
he was not as successful as a captain as he was a player.
Chanderpaul will introduce a new style. Without the flair
and personality of a Brian Lara, the management of the WICB
must realise that there is need for support for the new captain.
There is urgent need for a sport psychologist to work the
team. The comparatively inexperienced captain, leading a green
team, needs all the help he can get, as he takes the field
in a home series in which all the cards seem stacked against
him.
He is the West Indies captain and whatever we may think of
Digicel and WICB, until that is resolved, now is the time
to rally round the new skipper.
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