Test #1836 Records : Chanderpaul remains the lone man standing among the falling West Indians

Test #1836 West Indies in England 2007 (4^th Test) at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

The latest test series between West Indies and England resulted in the same manner as did the every series in the new millennium. After winning the first test of the new millennium played at Edgbaston from June 15^th to 17 th inside three days by a huge margin of an innings and 93 runs, they are yet to register a test victory against England. West Indies went on to surrender The John Wisden Trophy in 2000 series by losing three of the next four tests with the rain ruined third test played at Old Trafford ending in a draw. Thus they ended their supremacy of last 27 years of 20^th century during which they never lost a test series to England.

Odds were never in their favor to regain the John Wisden Trophy even before they started the 2007 series. Yes, not even before Brian Lara announced his retirement from the international Cricket immediately after the World Cup debacle. However they did put up a good show in the first test at Lord’s though weather ruined the proceedings and helped West Indies in escaping the test match with a draw. If Chanderpaul’s absence in the 2^nd test was itself a major blow for the West Indies, they took another crushing blow when their captain Ramnaresh Sarwan suffered a series ending injury in the second test before even taking a batting stance. There after things went from bad to worse with Chris Gayle not being able to take off at all and their stop-gap skipper Daren Ganga having a horrible existence at the crease since taking over the captaincy with scores of 5 & 9, 5 & 0 , 0 & 6. The Brilliance of Bravo and Resilience of Chanderpaul could not stop West Indies from losing last three tests even though it looked as if West Indies might avoid a defeat while Chanderpaul and Bravo were batting in last two tests. So England extends their streak of not losing a test match to West Indies to sixteen and West Indies requires a tremendous amount of reversal in their cricketing fortunes even to dream of regaining the John Wisden trophy when they host England in 2009.

Following are some of the statistical highlights of the fourth test of the 2007 series:

Though England dominated the test series from every imaginable angle, one batsman they could not corner was Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Chanderpaul topped the batting averages for both sides but ended up on the losing side as he did in 2004 notching up plethora of test records in the process. He batted for more than 1000 minutes without getting dismissed while making 116* in the 2^nd innings of the 3^rd test at Old Trafford and 136* & 70 in the 4^th test at Chester-le-Street. This is the third time he recorded this feat in his test career. Only five other batsmen achieved this record in test history and none of them had done it more than once. Following is the list of all such occasions.

Player	Vs	Venue	Series	Inns	Score	C.Runs	Mts	T.Mts	B/F	T. B/F	TEST#
Shoaib Mohammad	NZ	Karachi	1990/91	1st	*203	203	656	656	411	411	1151
	NZ	Lahore	1990/91	1st	105	308	351	1007	223	634	1152
Nasser Hussain	SA	Port Elizabeth	1999/00	2nd	*70	70	303	303	211	211	1475
	SA	Durban	1999/00	1st	*146	216	635	938	463	674	1480
	SA	Cape Town	1999/00	1st	15	231	85	1023	70	744	1482
Rahul Dravid	BD	Dhaka	2000/01	2nd	*41	41	50	50	49	49	1512
	Zim	New Delhi	2000/01	1st	*200	241	551	601	350	399	1515
				2nd	*70	311	152	753	91	490
	Zim	Nagpur	2000/01	1st	162	473	408	1161	301	791	1517
Jacques Kallis	Zim	Harare	2001/02	1st	*157	157	381	381	272	272	1562
				2nd	*42	199	65	446	54	326
	Zim	Bulawayo	2001/02	1st	*189	388	581	1027	443	769	1563
	Ind	Bloemfontein	2001/02	1st	68	456	219	1246	138	907	1564
Shivnarine ChanderPaul	Ind	Port of Spain	2001/02	2nd	*67	67	260	260	162	162	1599
	Ind	Bridgetown	2001/02	1st	*101	168	365	625	231	393	1601
	Ind	St. John's	2001/02	1st	*136	304	675	1300	510	903	1602
	Ind	Kingston	2001/02	1st	58	362	213	1513	148	1051	1604
Sachin Tendulkar	Aus	Sydney	2003/04	1st	*241	241	613	613	436	436	1680
				2nd	*60	301	108	721	89	525
	Pak	Multan	2003/04	1st	*194	495	493	1214	348	873	1693
	Pak	Lahore	2003/04	1st	2	497	10	1224	6	879	1695
Shivnarine ChanderPaul	BD	Kingston	2003/04	1st	*101	101	271	271	190	190	1703
	Eng	Lord's	2004	1st	*128	229	383	654	270	460	1707
				2nd	*97	306	231	885	152	612
	Eng	Edgbaston	2004	1st	45	351	146	1031	86	698	1708
Shivnarine ChanderPaul	Eng	Old Trafford	2007	2nd	*116	116	413	413	257	257	1835
	Eng	Chester-le-Street	2007	1st	*136	252	406	819	257	514	1836
				2nd	70	322	255	1074	163	677

Just for the record : Hanif Mohammad of Pakistan holds the record for batting for longest period in a single test match with his marathon knock of 337 in 970 minutes against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1957/58 whereas Aussie Opener Mark Taylor with 334* (720 mts) & 92 (218 mts) against Pakistan at Peshawar 1998/99 is close second with 938 mts of batting before getting dismissed. However Stephen Fleming of New Zealand holds the record for batting longest period of 956 minutes without getting dismissed in a single test with the scores of 274* (653) & 69* (303) against Sri Lanka at Colombo (PSS) in 2003. Fleming however was dismissed for a duck in the next match after batting for just 5 mts thus missing the 1000 mts mark.

Chanderpaul’s latest 1000+ minutes batting between dismissals also makes him the owner of another interesting record. For the second time in his career he now has witnessed 20 or more wickets falling consecutively at the other end while he himself remained not out. In the third test at Old Trafford he came into bat at 88 for 3 and remained unbeaten at the close of West Indian innings, thus seeing seven of his teammates losing their wickets. In the fourth test at Chester-le-Street , Chanderpaul came into bat at 34 for 3 and remained not out again for 136 witnessing seven more wickets falling at the other end. In the second innings of the same test he stepped in at 38 for 3 and saw six wickets falling at the other end before becoming the last batsman out in the innings for 70.

However Chanderpaul's unbeaten tenure at the crease which made him saw 20 of his side’s dismissals is still one dismissal short of his record 21 dismissals he witnessed during his record 1513 minutes of unbeaten batting against India in 2001-02 as he saw 6 wickets falling during his 2^nd innings knock of 67* at Port of Spain, 6 wickets during 101* at Bridgetown, 6 wickets during 136* at St. John’s and 3 wickets during his 1^st innings knock of 58 at Kingston. No other batsmen in the history of test cricket batted with such patience and perseverance to endure so many wickets falling at the opposite end. The closest to Chanderpaul’s record is 18 dismissals shared by Jacques Rudolph of South Africa and Kumara Sangakkara of Sri Lanka. Rudolph made 154* at Auckalnd and 93* & 0 at Wellington in 2003-04 series against New Zealand whereas Sangakkara made 100* at Christchurch and 156* & 8 at Wellington against the same opposition in 2006-07. They both came at the fall of first wicket in their unbeaten innings.

When the West Indian skipper Daren Ganga was out lbw to the first ball of the test match bowled by Ryan Sidebottom, he not only became the 26^th player to be dismissed by the first ball of a Test Match but also just the third captain to have suffered the ignominy. At Headingley in 1926, acting as a stop-gap captain in the absence of the appointed captain Herbie Collins just like Darren Ganga, Warren Bardsley of Australia became the first captain to have suffered the fate of getting out to the first ball of a test match.. Seventy three years later Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya fell to the first ball of the match, bowled by Australia's Glenn McGrath at Galle in 1999-00. For the entire list of batsmen who were out to the first legitimate delivery of a test match refer to the table in my posting on Test #1832 which saw India’s opener Wasim Jaffer shouldering his arms to an incoming delivery from Bangladesh’s Mashrafe Mortaza to lose his stumps to the first ball of a test match and provide 25^th such instance.

For the Trivia buffs : When AC MacLaren of Australia was out to the first ball of the Melbourne test in 1894/95 of the bowling of Arthur Conningham, he provided first such instance. It was also Arthur Conningham’s first delivery in his test career . Mohsin Khan’s dismissal with the first ball of 1983/84 test at Jalandhar by Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar’s first ball dismissal by Imran Khan at Jaipur provides the only two instances in test cricket a wicket falling to the first ever ball bowled at a particular venue.

Sunil Gavaskar of India and Hannan Sarkar of Bangladesh are the only batsmen to have suffered fate of losing their wicket to the first ball of a test match on three separate occasions whereas Geoff Arnold of England (2), Richard Hadlee of New Zealand (2) , Kapil Dev of India (2) and Pedro Collins of West Indies (3) are the only bowlers to have taken a wicket with the first delivery bowled in a test match on more than one occasion. Hannan Sarkar also holds the record for getting out to the first delivery of a test match in three consecutive tests, which as of today are his last three matches of his test career.

Keith Stackpole of Australia in 1973/74 at Auckland against New Zealand and Wasim Jaffer against Bangladesh at Chittagong followed up their first ball dismissal of a test match with another duck in their second innings. SJ Cook of South Africa and LV Garrick of New Zealand were out to the first ball of a test match while making their test debut. Except Zimbabwe batsmen of all test playing nations have at least one batsmen or bowler involved in a first ball dismissal in a test match.

During his first innings knock of 136* Chanderpaul crossed the ’s 7000 test runs milestone and became the 7^th West Indian and 30^th test cricketer to have done so. Following is the list of all players with 7000 or more test runs.

Player	Country	Tests	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	100s	50s	Avg	S/R
Lara, B C	West Indies	131	232	6	11953	*400	34	48	52.89	60.52
Border, A R	Australia	156	265	44	11174	205	27	63	50.56	40.98
Waugh, S R	Australia	168	260	46	10927	200	32	50	51.06	48.65
Tendulkar, S R*	India	137	220	23	10922	*248	37	43	55.44
Gavaskar, S M	India	125	214	16	10122	*236	34	45	51.12
Ponting, R T*	Australia	110	183	25	9368	257	33	36	59.29	58.95
Dravid, R *	India	109	185	22	9366	270	24	47	57.46	42.50
Gooch, G A	England	118	215	6	8900	333	20	46	42.58	49.20
Javed Miandad	Pakistan	124	189	21	8832	*280	23	43	52.57
Inzamam-ul-Haq*	Pakistan	119	198	22	8813	329	25	46	50.07	54.04
Richards, I V A	West Indies	121	182	12	8540	291	24	45	50.24
Stewart, A J	England	133	235	21	8463	190	15	45	39.55	48.67
Kallis, J H*	South Africa	107	182	29	8430	*189	24	44	55.10	42.76
Gower, D I	England	117	204	18	8231	215	18	39	44.25	50.60
Boycott, G	England	108	193	23	8114	*246	22	42	47.73
Sobers, G S A	West Indies	93	160	21	8032	*365	26	30	57.78
Waugh, M E	Australia	128	209	17	8029	*153	20	47	41.82	52.27
Hayden, M L*	Australia	89	159	13	7739	380	27	27	53.01	60.08
Atherton, M A	England	115	212	7	7728	*185	16	46	37.70	37.32
Langer, J L	Australia	105	182	12	7696	250	23	30	45.27	54.23
Cowdrey, M C	England	114	188	15	7624	182	22	38	44.07
Greenidge, C G	West Indies	108	185	16	7558	226	19	34	44.72
Taylor, M A	Australia	104	186	13	7525	*334	19	40	43.50	41.61
Lloyd, C H	West Indies	110	175	14	7515	*242	19	39	46.68
Haynes, D L	West Indies	116	202	25	7487	184	18	39	42.30
Boon, D C	Australia	107	190	20	7422	200	21	32	43.66	40.97
Kirsten, G	South Africa	101	176	15	7289	275	21	34	45.27	43.35
Hammond, W R	England	85	140	16	7249	*336	22	24	58.46
Chanderpaul, S*	West Indies	104	178	24	7182	*203	16	43	46.64	43.32
Chappell, G S	Australia	87	151	19	7110	*247	24	31	53.86

Finally England’s Andrew Strauss stuck some batting form and made a fine 77 in the first innings. In the second innings he completed 3000 runs in Test Cricket and became the 143 cricketer to do so and 34^th from England. Following is the list of all English cricketers who aggregated 3000 or more runs in a test career:

Player	Country	Tests	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	100s	50s	Avg	S/R
Gooch, G A	England	118	215	6	8900	333	20	46	42.58	49.20
Stewart, A J	England	133	235	21	8463	190	15	45	39.55	48.67
Gower, D I	England	117	204	18	8231	215	18	39	44.25	50.60
Boycott, G	England	108	193	23	8114	*246	22	42	47.73
Atherton, M A	England	115	212	7	7728	*185	16	46	37.70	37.32
Cowdrey, M C	England	114	188	15	7624	182	22	38	44.07
Hammond, W R	England	85	140	16	7249	*336	22	24	58.46
Hutton, L	England	79	138	15	6971	364	19	33	56.67
Barrington, K F	England	82	131	15	6806	256	20	35	58.67
Thorpe, G P	England	100	179	28	6744	*200	16	39	44.66	45.90
Trescothick, M E*	England	76	143	10	5825	219	14	29	43.80	54.52
Compton, D C S	England	78	131	15	5807	278	17	28	50.06
Hussain, N	England	96	171	16	5764	207	14	33	37.19	40.39
Hobbs, J B	England	61	102	7	5410	211	15	28	56.95
Botham, I T	England	102	161	6	5200	208	14	22	33.55	60.71
Edrich, J H	England	77	127	9	5138	*310	12	24	43.54
Graveney, T W	England	79	123	13	4882	258	11	20	44.38
Vaughan, M P*	England	67	120	9	4846	197	16	14	43.66	52.47
Lamb, A J	England	79	139	10	4656	142	14	18	36.09	51.40
Sutcliffe, H	England	54	84	9	4555	194	16	23	60.73
May, P B H	England	66	106	9	4537	*285	13	22	46.77
Dexter, E R	England	62	102	8	4502	205	9	27	47.89
Gatting, M W	England	79	138	14	4409	207	10	21	35.56	45.16
Knott, A P E	England	95	149	15	4389	135	5	30	32.75
Butcher, M A	England	71	131	7	4288	*173	8	23	34.58	42.02
Smith, R A	England	62	112	15	4236	175	9	28	43.67	45.65
Amiss, D L	England	50	88	10	3612	*262	11	11	46.31
Greig, A W	England	58	93	4	3599	148	8	20	40.44
Hendren, E H	England	51	83	9	3525	*205	7	21	47.64
Hick, G A	England	65	114	6	3383	178	6	18	31.32	48.89
Flintoff, A*	England	67	110	6	3381	167	5	24	32.51	64.17
Woolley, F E	England	64	98	7	3283	154	5	23	36.08
Fletcher, K W R	England	59	96	14	3272	216	7	19	39.90
Strauss, A J*	England	40	75	2	3012	147	10	9	41.26	51.02

Final Statistical Tidbit: Matt Prior’s 324 runs from 6 innings he came into bat in this series is the new record for a wicket keeper’s debut test series eclipsing the previous best of 264 by Adam Gilchrist in his maiden test series against Pakistan in 1999/00.