Our readers feel Chanderpaul deserved a proper farewell, recount the nervous moment when McClenaghan was down and hope the BBL continues to focus on the average family
30-Jan-2016Shivnarine Chanderpaul announces retirement
Reader: HDG1978
Hats off to Chanders for his steely resolve and determination.A dependable bat despite his unorthodox and ungainly stance. Always considered second-best in a West Indies team that featured the enigmatic genius Brian Lara, his wicket was equally precious as Lara’s was for any opposition bowler. Though their careers coincided with the decline of the once great WI team, Lara and Chanderpaul along with Gayle and Sarwan gave lots of joy to fans of West Indies cricket like me. His run of scores against India on its 2001-02 tour of West Indies was a source of frustration for me as an Indian fan. But his finest moment was when he anchored the highest successful fourth innings chase in Test cricket against Australia at St. John’s in 2003; it will always be fondly cherished. Was a fan of Clive Lloyd as a captain but not as a selector as I feel that Shiv thoroughly deserved a farewell home series against Australia last year for his stellar performances and for being a pillar of strength of a faltering West Indies side for 21 long years(1994-2015).Reader: t20cric
It’s quite sad to see Chanderpaul go like this. He’s a great cricketer and looking at his top five performances article, he wasn’t just a batsman who only played slowly (I thought he always played slow innings before). West Indies really should have maybe given him more of a chance and let him get to 12,000 runs before retiring. He had quite a few memorable performances against Australia and for those who judge a player’s greatness by looking at their performances against the best team of their era, that would mean that he’s a true great. Chanders was the last of the long line of great West Indies cricketers and with his retirement it’s truly the end of WI’s legendary era. Also, his retirement leaves Younis Khan as the last one left from the group of great batsmen who all played during the same era: Chanderpaul, Lara, Sangakarra, Jayawardene, Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Kallis, Ponting, Yousuf, Inzamam etc.Jack Bannister – player, journalist and pioneer – dies aged 85
Reader: guildfordbat
Deserved and fitting tributes from George Dobell and the posters below. I loved this story from Jack Bannister’s playing days which I heard him tell on the radio last summer. Warks were playing a three-day County Championship match (as they were then) at Kent and were a bowler down from injury as soon as the hosts went out to bat. Bannister bowled the second over and continued to do so throughout the morning and afternoon. In those days, a new ball became available after 75 overs. Anyway, Bannister had bowled 37 overs on the reel when his captain Mike (MJK) Smith came over and asked, ”Do you want the new ball now or do you want another over to loosen up?”Reliable yet misunderstood
Reader: US_Indian
What a sad end to one of the illustrious careers in cricket and his contribution is as immense as any of the great West Indians. It is an irony that the whole world runs after the glamorous and the flamboyant ignoring the quiet and solid contributors as well. They easily forget that for a team’s success both are required. Whereas the whole world goes gaga over a Lara or Richards they easily ignore others who equally are important and their contributions to the team in its real sense. It is a pity as far as West Indies cricket is concerned a certain Kanhai, Kallicharan or Rowe or a Shiv goes unnoticed and are not given their due credit very conveniently. With due respect to Richards, people easily forget he had a good team to back him with Fredericks, Greenidge, Haynes, Kallicharan, Lloyd, King, Rowe on the batting side and a Gibbs, and the foursome fearsome bowlers. He would not have been the same if he didn’t had that kind of players on his team. Lara had always guys like Shiv, Hooper etc to depend upon.’Seeing him go down like that and not get up for a long time was scary’•AFPMcClenaghan suffers facial fracture above left eye
Reader: J.vomkrieg
I was watching at the ground. Seeing him go down like that and not get up for a long time was scary. Memories of Phil Hughes are still pretty fresh in people’s minds. There was a really nervous pause over the ground, and a genuine sense of relief when he got up. We were all very worried it was something far worse than a fractured eye socket (which is still pretty horrible). Speedy recovery to Mitch!Journey to a million: the BBL success story
Reader: sssmillar
The great part of the BBL is that it is aimed at families. A family pass is $42.50 as opposed to over $40 for the cheapest adult ticket to the Test matches or ODIs. They also give away heaps of free stuff, which to kids seem brilliant even if the free stuff struggles to last the three hours until the end of the game. It is certainly a cheap night out and makes a lot of families go to two or three games each season because of it. If the marketing people never forget this, it will continue to grow and become a long term part of our summer holidays. Most sports in Australia seem to target the corporate dollar and forget the average family. Let’s hope the BBL never does this and put the the normal people first.Smith critical of Australian pitches
Reader: flickspin
I agree with Smith. Pitch variety is important, like wine pitches should reflect their climate. Pitch curators will make the odd bad pitch, that’s going to happen. Brisbane is usually green with bounce and carry to the keeper. Perth is usually hard with extra bounce and carry to the keeper. The Fremantle Doctor kicks in at lunch which helps swing. Melbourne the pitch gets slower as the game moves on, days four and five there are catches at cover and midwicket for mistimed shots and the old ball reverse-swings.Hobart is green: it usually swings and has movement off the pitch, it’s the pitch most like New Zealand and England. Adelaide is good for batting until days four and five when it spins (in the old days Adelaide Oval had short boundaries square of the wicket and long boundaries down the ground). Sydney pitch is also good for batting until days four and five when it spins. I would also give Canberra a Test. It would interesting to see what that pitch would play like at high altitude.Remembering the mighty Shell Shield
Reader: Kenneth Stapleton
Glorious days. I had the privilege of seeing Michael Holding bouncing Viv Richards. Andy Roberts doing the same to Lawrence Rowe and Roy Fredericks. The grounds were full and the crowds were in a frenzy. I would always remember the Combined Islands v Trinidad 1975 match. Combined had their first title within their grasp. The Mighty Swallow song, ‘Combined is the best’. It is such a shame we cannot get a sponsor now and no one goes to the games.
