SINCE THE West Indies' opening ODI victory over Sri Lanka a few Thursdays ago, the talk of Shivnarine Chanderpaul's last-ball six to win the match remains on many cricket fans' lips.

In the final overs, Sri Lanka appeared to have done enough but Chanderpaul, who struggled up to that point, or should I say, who seemed to be batting for himself up to that point, surprised many, including myself, with a last ball six - the exact amount of runs the West Indies needed to win.

Up to that point, he had struggled to find the boundary but did very well to drive Chaminda Vaas's penultimate delivery to the boundary for four ... that was a very good shot.

The final delivery of the match was described by a Cricinfo commentator, thus: "Vaas to Chanderpaul, six, this is the stuff of dreams! Off all times Vaas has to bowl a full toss! Chanderpaul waits for the gift, clubs that across the line and the ball just goes sailing over (Mahela) Jayawardene at deep midwicket.

Agonising wait

"He (Chanderpaul) waits and waits for the ball to clear the rope, a rather long and agonising one, he breaks out in celebration and the entire troupe from the dressing room rushes on to the field and crowd around him."

After the match, Chanderpaul said: "I'm happy, I'm very, very happy. I prayed and prayed and asked God to give me the strength to hit that ball out of the ground," he said, while not even stopping to thank Vaas for the gift.

Yes, I said it was a gift because anyone who plays cricket, or knows the game, would realise that once you get bat on to a leg-sided full toss it should only end up over the ropes.

I said that the moment Shiv hit the six, and I will say it again, that while Shiv did well to hit a six off the final ball, Vaas should be the one credited for the West Indies win.

If it wasn't for Shiv's slow batting, the West Indies would have won the game long before it came down to the final over.

To use the game's statistics to back up my earlier claim, when I said Shiv batted for himself - the West Indies started the 39th over needing 5.81 runs per over but between that stage and the final over, Shiv only had two fours, which came in the 40th and 49th overs.

Run rate drops

The required run rate dropped to 5.70 at the start of the 40th over but, entering the final over, the West Indies needed to score 13 runs. During this time, Shiv had only scored 22 runs off 36 deliveries and the bowling wasn't difficult.

You could argue that he was trying to ensure he was there for just such a performance as was required in the final over, however, even Jerome Taylor's six off the fifth ball of the 47th over could be considered the match winner.

In that over, the West Indies run rate required improved from 9.33 to 8.5. After Taylor's dismissal, Sulieman Benn faced five balls without scoring but this must be blamed on Shiv, who crossed on the last ball of the 48th over after Taylor got out.

In the end, his unbeaten 62, which came off 63 balls and included five fours and a six, was good but I implore those who might argue with me to look at previous games and pay attention to kind of pressure that Shiv's ODI batting has put the team under.

Failed to play for team

Look at how many times Shiv has almost carried, or carried, his bat through the innings without helping the Windies' cause. Shiv even, just recently, in a Carib Beer Series match for Guyana against the Windward Islands, failed to turn up for the second day's play, this after he was set to resume on 76 not out.

He opted to attend a West Indies Players' Association presentation function and leave his team behind.

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