Sweet as the sugar from Demerara

The smile is as sweet as the sugar from his native Demerara, the eyes a gentle Asiatic brown,

the physique and body language about as menacing as Mickey Mouse in pyjamas.

Behind such frail and uncommonly deceptive features, though, lies a focus of burnished steel, the sort of concentration

and aversion to risk normally found among chess grandmasters .....

In the greater scheme of things, in a world so addicted to hasty, thoughtless judgements that the words "exaggeration"

and "hype" apparently require the prefix "over" for us to understand them, and "great" :

no longer has any meaning whatsoever (in a qualitative sense)

Want persistence, stickability, dependability and sod-artistic-impression single mindedness ?

Call Shiv

                               

The ugliest batsman of them all ?

The most anonymous top-rank cricketer ever ?

The most patient, obstinate, cussed, indomitable, atypical sportsman of the third millennium ?

The ultimate limpet ?

Here, after all, is a chap about as likely to profess a desire to entertain

as Mel Gibson is to proclaim his love of all things Yiddish.... ::lol::

He also guards his privacy as a lioness does her cubs.

Even calling him "Shiv" feels like over-familiarity,

even an intrusion ...

Shiv remind me of another activity , the young flashy ones would be gunghu , slam bang and they are prematurely    ejected from the crease . This is not the case with Shiv as he will grind it out for long hours the  controlling the bat with  incredible stamina  until that climatic conclusion .

[quote author=ketchim link=topic=65848.msg413741#msg413741 date=1335711677]
Here, after all, is a chap about as likely to profess a desire to entertain

as Mel Gibson is to proclaim his love of all things Yiddish.... ::lol::

He also guards his privacy as a lioness does her cubs.

Even calling him "Shiv" feels like over-familiarity,

even an intrusion ...
[/quote]why  mention Mel Gibson love for all things yiddish when he could have stated Otis gibson love for all things Indian

Congratulations to Shiv for reaching the top again.He is a class of his own this man...hopefully he'll go on to play for some more years and give his team and his fans more brilliant knocks...It's because of players like him that test cricket is still surviving! 

He shouldda be as sweet as Berbice sugar  :tongue: