Bold Chanderpaul refusing to buckle

Chanderpaul began the week by drawing the highest praise from England captain Michael Vaughan for his momentous century in what turned out to be a losing cause in the third Test at Old Trafford.

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One of the best innings of its type I've seen' was Vaughan's assessment of Chanderpaul's 116 not out in Manchester, chiselled from 411 minutes of defiance.

And even though the series was gone when he lost his final partner there, the 32-year-old left-hander stood firm to give England more of the same yesterday, dragging his side from 55 for four to a still alive-and-kicking 132 for four by the early close of a rain-sodden day in Durham.

At Old Trafford, Chanderpaul finally ran out of second-innings partners 60 runs short of making the 455 which would have secured him a place in the folklore of the game. Here the stakes were rather more mundane — simply to make a contest of a match which had already been severely reduced by the rain that washed out the entire first day.

But Chanderpaul needs no invitation to bat as though his life depends on it. In compiling 44 not out, he took his time at the crease in this series to 15 hours and six minutes or, put another way, two-and-ahalf days. His average is not half bad either, with 284 runs from two completed innings at a mere 142.

The most telling statistic from yesterday's play came when he leg-glanced Steve Harmison to the boundary to move past 7,000 runs in Test cricket,making him the seventh West Indies batsman to reach that milestone behind Brian Lara, Sir Viv Richards, Sir Garfield Sobers, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd and Des Haynes.

The overriding impression is that the current generation would be little more than a pushover without him.

Chanderpaul rode his luck once again. At Old Trafford Monty Panesar gifted him a life off Harmison's bowling when on 18.Here,on nine, he offered a sharp chance to Ian Bell at third slip off Matthew Hoggard and the bowler's howl of frustration indicated just how highly prized his wicket has become. As at Old Trafford, he had valuable support from Dwayne Bravo who finished the day on 43.

Vaughan's decision to bowl after winning the toss was based on the assessment that overcast conditions were made for the swing of Ryan Sidebottom and Hoggard and they proved him spot-on with a burst of three wickets in the first nine overs.

West Indies skipper Daren Ganga was out first ball of the match, clipping a Sidebottom delivery straight into the hands of Alastair Cook at short leg.

Chris Gayle smacked 28 from 24 balls, including a sweetly timed six over mid-wicket off Sidebottom, then played all round a straight one from Hoggard to make it 32 for two. It was the Yorkshireman's 236th Test wicket, taking him to equal sixth on the list of England bowlers alongside Alec Bedser.

Devon Smith made the unwise decision to leave a straight ball in Sidebottom's next over, the Nottinghamshire left-armer deserving his 13th wicket of the series with a clever piece of deception to leave West Indies at 34 for three.

Harmison had Runako Morton caught by Sidebottom in the covers in the 17th over but Chanderpaul and Bravo then dug in to collect 77 runs in the remaining 102 minutes of play possible.