Shivnarine Chanderpaul battles in vain
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is probably the most horrendous looking batsman around. We mean in terms of his batting style, of course. We're not passing judgement on his looks. He looks fine. He's not really our type, but... Er, the batting anyway.
We're not actually sure if Shiv HAS a stance at the crease. At least not one that he uses repeatedly. He stands there and he's got a bat, but it's not what you'd call a 'stance'. As far as his technique goes, he tends to face the bowler and unfurl a visual catastophe of limbs when the ball arrives.
In Test cricket, opening batsmen tend to be the ones with the best techniques. In one-day cricket, they're either Test openers or big-hitters. We're not quite sure why Chanderpaul got his chance at the top of the West Indian one-day order, because he's neither of these things. Or at least he wasn't.
In Test cricket, Chanderpaul sort of spoons the ball around at weird angles and spends an age at the crease. He's good, in that he's effective, but he doesn't look good and he doesn't score quickly. For some reason he's been given this chance as one of the West Indies' one-day openers and punch our teeth out and steal our wallet, but he's really pretty damn good at it.
Maybe his effectiveness is why he got the chance. He's an effective yet hideous Test batsman and equally he's an effective yet hideous one-day opener. Suddenly he's smashing the ball to all parts and he and Chris Gayle are really something to be feared.
Today he hit 149 not out off 137 balls against India. West Indies lost, but you can't really blame Shiv, can you?
We're not actually sure if Shiv HAS a stance at the crease. At least not one that he uses repeatedly. He stands there and he's got a bat, but it's not what you'd call a 'stance'. As far as his technique goes, he tends to face the bowler and unfurl a visual catastophe of limbs when the ball arrives.
In Test cricket, opening batsmen tend to be the ones with the best techniques. In one-day cricket, they're either Test openers or big-hitters. We're not quite sure why Chanderpaul got his chance at the top of the West Indian one-day order, because he's neither of these things. Or at least he wasn't.
In Test cricket, Chanderpaul sort of spoons the ball around at weird angles and spends an age at the crease. He's good, in that he's effective, but he doesn't look good and he doesn't score quickly. For some reason he's been given this chance as one of the West Indies' one-day openers and punch our teeth out and steal our wallet, but he's really pretty damn good at it.
Maybe his effectiveness is why he got the chance. He's an effective yet hideous Test batsman and equally he's an effective yet hideous one-day opener. Suddenly he's smashing the ball to all parts and he and Chris Gayle are really something to be feared.
Today he hit 149 not out off 137 balls against India. West Indies lost, but you can't really blame Shiv, can you?
Labels: opening batsmen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indies
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
bowled by Blue and Brown | 2:58 pm
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2 Comments:
Plus, he always looks kind of mean. And he's called Shiv. And he puts funky stripes in his cheek war-paint.
I like Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
'unfurl a catastrophe of limbs' is possibly the best line I've read in about a year.
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