HAMILTON – Shivnarine Chanderpaul established a few more personal landmarks yesterday when he became the sixth highest all-time run scorer in Tests but he hopes his 29th Test hundred helps West Indies to earn a series-levelling victory against New Zealand.
The veteran left-handed batsman was undefeated on 122 – drawing level with the late Australian batting legend Don Bradman on the list of Test century-makers.
Chanderpaul added 60 runs with tail-enders Veerasammy Permaul (20) and Tino Best (25) to help West Indies post a first innings total of 367 on the second day of the third cricket Test against New Zealand at Seddon Park.
In reply, New Zealand closed the day on 156 for three with Ross Taylor unbeaten 56 and captain Brendon McCullum on 11.
Taylor and Kane Williamson added 95 to ease some of New Zealand’s pressure after their openers went cheaply.
The Black Caps needed the stand after West Indies captain Darren Sammy celebrated his 30th birthday by pulling off two brilliant catches to reduce them to 43-2.
Opening the bowling, he stooped on his follow-through to pick up a low return catch to remove Hamish Rutherford and then used his sharp reflexes at leg slip to dispose of Peter Fulton in off-spinner Sunil Narine’s first over.
Narine posed the biggest threat, occasionally bamboozling both Williamson and Taylor with his variations, including the use of the carrom ball across the right-handers from round the wicket.
He trapped Williamson leg before wicket for 58 before stumps after a review upheld the decision by umpire Nigel Llong. Taylor himself survived an early lbw shout that was referred to the third umpire.
Earlier, the 39-year-old Chanderpaul remained not out for the 45th time in 260 innings after Permaul and Best both swung lustily, with energetic Best adding a record 35-run stand for the final wicket against New Zealand.
Tim Southee finished with the best figures of 4-79 and now needs just two more wickets to reach 100 Test victims.
It was Chanderpaul’s 17th unbeaten Test hundred and placed him ahead of recently-retired Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar with the most not-out Test hundreds.
Chanderpaul now has 11 199 runs from his 153 Tests, placing him ahead of former Australia captain and fellow left-hander Allan Border, who scored 11 174 runs in 156 Tests.
“AB is a great man and scored a lot of runs against us when we had a lot of fast bowlers,” said Chanderpaul. “I’m happy to get up there. There are some really great guys up there.
“I’m just trying to take each game as it comes and do as well as I can . . . I have to thank God for giving me that hunger to want to go out there and do well.”
The previous day, Chanderpaul and Windies wicketkeeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin, with his fourth Test hundred of 107, shared a new West Indies sixth-wicket record of 200 against New Zealand.
Chanderpaul said it was satisfying to see the team’s plans finally fall into place.
“It was a fantastic effort from Denesh Ramdin and myself to get us to such a competitive total,” said Chanderpaul. “From having a good start, then the second session losing so many wickets, we managed to put us in a decent position.
“It’s the things we have talked about all season. Here and in India, we’ve been struggling, getting starts, but not going on. We’ve talked about batsmen getting hundreds and it was something we were able to do in this game, so we are very happy about it.
Chanderpaul said the New Zealanders once again bowled well, putting the ball in good areas.
“They make things difficult, it wasn’t easy to score. They have done it throughout the series and keep on doing it.”
But he expects Narine to play a big part for the Windies.
“The wicket is going to spin. It has a lot of grass on top of it and the ball will grip . . . You could say we were a bit surprised by the nature of this pitch, that it offered so much turn . . . . If we bowl well enough anything can happen out there [on Saturday].”
“Sunil is a very good bowler. It doesn’t matter the conditions he’s playing in. He’s difficult to deal with when he gets it right.” (WICB?Media/EZS)
