Chanderpaul connects with fans from Timehri to the city

Mar 17, 2009 Sports

Motorcade organised by MCY&S / NSC

Proud son of the soil!!! Shivnarine Chanderpaul posing with the Golden Arrowhead for dozens of fans and supporters at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport yesterday.

By Franklin Wilson
It was deemed a resounding success with hundreds of school children, workers and fans forming a human chain along the roadways from Timehri to the city to get a glimpse of and a wave at their local hero, the International Cricket Council (ICC) 2008 cricketer of the year, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The Motorcade was organised by the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport (MCY&S) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) to honour Chanderpaul for copping the ICC award, fighting off competition from other nominees, Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, South Africa’s Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn.
‘Tiger’, as he is affectionately called, braved the sweltering midday heat acknowledging and showing appreciation to all who took the time to patiently wait for the motorcade to pass their way to cheer their hero.

It was another well played innings by Shiv, though on a different wicket as he exhibited his ability to adapt to any condition.
Director of Sport Neil Kumar who accompanied Chanderpaul throughout the journey said he was very impressed with his knowledge and overall development of the game.
“We discussed many issues relating to the game as we made our way down to the city. I was really impressed with his knowledge and the support we received throughout the route.”

“The children were really excited and animated to see him. We had to make five stops along the way for him to converse briefly with the school children and I think this made them (children) really happy.”
Kumar shared that Chanderpaul is confident the Caribbean side will return to the glory days and has a lot of faith in the younger batsmen whom he believes must continue to work hard to reap great rewards.
Among the schools coming out were Timehri Primary and Community High, Grove, Diamond and Providence primaries, many of the children waving the national flag.

Kumar also disclosed that Chanderpaul, who was named Guyana’s sportsman of the year for a record fifth time, overtaking former West Indian Captain Clive Lloyd, has committed to giving back to Guyana’s cricket.
He is expected to visit and interact with the national under-15 cricketers tomorrow at a venue and time to be finalised. During the voting period for the ICC award, Chanderpaul played eight Test matches, scoring 819 runs at an average of 91.00, including three centuries and six fifties, all of which were against the top seven teams in the world.

He also played 13 ODIs during that time, finishing top of the averages with 74.75 having scored 598 runs, a haul that included a century and five fifties. He is currently ranked No. 1 in the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen and is sixth in the rankings for ODI batsmen.
His overall test career average is 119 matches, 202 innings, 32 not outs, 8502 runs with a highest score of 203, 21 hundreds and 52 half centuries for an average of 50.01. In ODI’s, 241 matches, 226 innings, 35 not outs, 7858 runs (9 hundreds & 53 fifties), highest of 150 for an average of 41.14.

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