Older, fitter, stronger, better

                 

His Test career is  20 years old

The fact that West Indies play fewer Tests than other top teams means he has had to play

longer to reach the landmark 150th Test 

Ricky Ponting played 168 Tests in a 17-year career

Allan Border played 156 in 16

Dravid notched up 164 in 16

Splitting up his 150-Test career into three parts further reveals just how prolific he has been in

the last third of that period.

In the first third of his career, from his debut to the end of 2001 :

he averaged marginally less than 40 from 49 Tests  !

and the most striking aspect of his career up to that point was his inability:

to convert fifties into hundreds.

In 2002, though, he ended the rut quite emphatically, and hasn't really looked back since.

It helped also that West Indies played eight Tests against India, his favourite opponents,

in 2002 : Chanderpaul made full use of that opportunity and amassed four centuries

in those eight Tests, thus also dispelling the notion that he couldn't bat long periods

and make big scores. In those five years between 2002 and 2006 :

he scored 12 centuries from 52 matches and averaged almost 50.

From the beginning of 2007, which also coincided with Brian Lara's retirement :

Chanderpaul has averaged a staggering 70.52 from 48 matches (excluding his 150th Test).

No other batsman has come close to those numbers during this period. 

Since the beginning of 2007, no batsman has averaged as much as Chanderpaul has.

The next-best is Kumar Sangakkara at 64.54

Hashim Amla's is third with 57.61.

Admittedly, 21 not-outs has contributed to that extraordinarily high average, but even after

excluding those not-outs, Chanderpaul has still scored 52 runs per innings.

( Click here for the full list of batsmen who've scored at least 2000 runs during this period.)

Like a good vintage Wine , The Shivster will jus get better 

Older, fitter, stronger, better,  definitely ........... however handicapped by the players on the team ....... no support !!!

* In his first 50 tests(March 94 to Jan 2002) Shiv averaged 39.18

* In his last 100 tests(Feb 2002 to Present) Shiv has averaged 58.43

* Only Kallis(59.19) and Sangakkara(58.92) have higher averages than Shiv(58.43) from Feb 2002 to present

Click on link:

stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/i...results;type=batting


BOTTOM LINE:

Calypso is right! If Shiv had played on a stronger team---he would have had less not outs but scored more runs.

Rev

knowing the mental state of WI admins, the baby might be thrown out with the bathwater!  So, don't be surprised is Shiv is asked to retire regardless of his stellar performances!!