In a first, former West Indies cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul smashed a record 76-ball 210 in the Adam Sanford Cricket4Life T20 tournament at the Caribe Lumber Ballpark at St.Maarten; in the Caribbean.
Hitting a record-breaking 25 boundaries and 13 maximums, the 44-year-old’s innings helped his side cross the 300-run mark (303). Forming a formidable partnership with Dwayne Smith against USA’s Mad Dogs team, the retired southpaw contained a strike rate of more than 250. Smith, on the other hand, scored 54 off 28 deliveries.
His mammoth total helped his side to a 192-run victory over Mad Dogs, with only Prasanna Ramaswamy reaching the double figures (29 off 29 deliveries).
Chanderpaul’s double century, however, won’t be considered as the first in T20 format given that the tournament isn’t recognised by the International Cricket Council. Thus, Chris Gayle’s unbeaten 175 during the 2015 Indian T20 League remains the highest individual score.
The 44-year-old southpaw retired from all forms of cricket in 2016. He, however, has kept himself occupied with the domestic cricket. He still plies his trade in first-class cricket with Lancashire in the County Championship and for Guyana in the Regional Four Day Competition.
And the irony lies in the fact that he is even batting with his son Tagenarine Chanderpaul in the same team.
Chanderpaul played 164 Test for West Indies and forged 11,867 runs with an average of 51.37. He remained just 86 runs short of equaling Brian Lara’s tally of 11,953 runs.
