Tagenarine Chanderpaul’s bat did the talking

By Brandon Corlette in Trinidad

Prior to the Guyana Harpy Eagles’ final practice match at Providence, the Lead Selector for the Guyana team said Tagenarine Chanderpaul was the back-up opener and he was selected to the national team based on his experience.

“The main concern was that Tagenarine Chanderpaul was not getting runs. We selected him based on his experience. But what will happen is that Tevin Imlach will open the batting with [Chandra Paul] Hemraj, and maybe, if he does fail, then Tagenarine can come in back. But for now, although Tage is there, he will not be considered the first-choice opener.”

Those were the comments made by the Lead Selector, Ravindranauth Seeram, in an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport.
While I was present to cover the Harpy Eagles’ final practice match, and to cover the Four-Day tournament in Trinidad, the little Tiger never attempted to respond to the selector’s comments, nor did he make out those comments bothered him.
He responded, and he responded in style, scoring a big century in the practice match, and then scoring a century in the third-round clash of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Four-Day tournament against Barbados Pride, at Queen’s Park, Trinidad.

Additionally, Chanderpaul also turned on the heat, surprising many, when he struck a match-winning unbeaten 23 from 10 balls, after he scored 140 from 434 balls in 644 minutes in the first innings. If ever there was a shift from first gear to fifth gear, then that was it.
After scoring his first innings century, the humble Chanderpaul said it was nice for him to get some runs and bat long. After batting on low gear on the first day against Barbados, Chanderpaul shifted to second gear. He said: “The new ball was doing a bit on the first day, so I tried to get through that. The second day we came back and just up the scoring rate a bit.”
Heading into this third-round clash against Barbados, Chanderpaul was high on confidence after his big century in the final practice match. High on emotions after scooping one for four and then thumping one to long-on, the 25-year-old said he was super excited that Guyana got the win in a close match.
“When I came in, it was run-a-ball. The field was spread, so I just got a cross and get the gaps on the leg-side. Most of the guys were on the off-side, and the fine leg went at square leg, so the gap was open. Hopefully, we can get two more wins and see where it can go from there,” Chanderpaul said.
The left-handed opener, who batted at seven in the second innings, said he would be aiming to take each game one at a time and he would be aiming to apply himself. Guyana Harpy Eagles will play Jamaica on Wednesday, May 25 at Diego Martin Sporting Complex in Trinidad.