Shivnarine Chanderpaul is not the kind of player for whom things come easy. He spends inordinate amounts of time at the crease for his runs, grinds down the opposition rather than flattening them with silky strokes and even after 17 years of cricket, is not always mentioned in lists of Caribbean greats. The adulation he received during the Dominica Test must have felt almost a little disconcerting for the workman-like Chanderpaul. Becoming West Indies’ most-capped Test player drew attention to his contribution to Caribbean cricket, he was cheered even when he came on to bowl, and after he helped save the Test with a second-innings century, the prime minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, declared Chanderpaul an honourary citizen of the country.

If all that wasn’t quite enough for Chanderpaul, on Saturday, while he was compiling the first half of his 23rd Test hundred, his son Tagnarine Chanderpaul top-scored for the Guyana Under-15 side, against Jamaica in the WICB Under-15 tournament. Chanderpaul junior scored 37 out of a score of 95 at Honeymoon Park. Perhaps West Indies will not have to look too far to replace Shiv.

It’s been an exciting few days for military man Sheldon Cotterell. A left-arm fast bowler from Jamaica, he got as close to the international cricket action as he could, standing guard at Sabina Park’s pitch with other army personnel during the innings break of the final West Indies-India ODI. The experience left him picturing himself “in the maroon colours”. Then, a couple of days later, he did that fantasy no harm, making several of India’s Test team jump around in the nets ahead of the tour’s opening Test at the same venue.

“It was just like me seeing the future to tell you the truth,” Cotterell, 21, told the Jamaica Gleaner of his time out in the middle during the ODI. “Just being out there and seeing the fans gave me a thrill and seeing the West Indies and Indian team warming up. When I was out there I was picturing myself in the maroon colours warming up with the guys.”

On Saturday, he had a bowl in the nets against India and had opener M Vijay in trouble, hitting him on the left hand. While Vijay was attended to by India’s physio, Cotterell impressed with his pace, troubling nearly all the Indian batsmen, ESPNcricinfo’s Sriram Veera reported from Kingston.

Cotterell, who has been playing cricket from the age of nine, bats right-handed and does so as effectively as he bowls. He was the top all-rounder with 317 runs in the 2010 edition of the Senior Cup, a domestic tournament. This season, he made 173 runs in three innings in the competition. What next, then? Well, he’s working towards breaking into the West Indies team within 18 months.

Old age has its rewards – especially if you want to watch West Indies take on Pakistan and India free of cost during their upcoming tours of the Caribbean. West Indies recorded their first Test win in England between June 24 and 29, 1950, at Lord’s and it is in celebration of that win, that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), is offering free tickets to any fan who was born before June 24 1950. And this is how it works: anyone who was born before that date will receive two free tickets to any match of their choice. And if you happen to be born between June 24 and 29 in 1950 or any year prior to 1950 you will receive ten free tickets to any match of your choice during the West Indies-Pakistan or West Indies-India series.

“We want to give back to the fans who have been faithful to West Indies cricket over the years, those who have lived through the good times and the challenging times,” WICB event manager Cindy McLean said. “Did you live it? Win tickets!” is WICB’s slogan for the ticket giveaway campaign. West Indies take on Pakistan and India in a total of two T20s, ten ODIs and five Tests all across the Caribbean from April 21 to July 10. And if you don’t fall in that age group, well, there’s not too much to worry. Ticket prices for the series’ have been radically slashed – up to 85% in some cases – to make it easier on budgets; and if you are less than 16 years old, it's entry free for all games.

While most of the game's eminent commentators were a part of the World Twenty20 broadcast, one familiar name chose to stay away from his home event. Michael Holding dismisses the youngest version of the game with the disdain he reserved for batsmen who faced up to him in his peak. “Not one ball. I don’t watch Twenty20. It is dumbing-down cricket. They should find another name for it,” Holding said in an interview with Patrick Kidd for Times Online.

The former West Indies great is not impressed by the notion of Twenty20 specialists who travel the world playing lucrative domestic tournaments. Kieron Pollard may be an instant star with his exploits in the Champions League and the IPL, but Holding's contention is that a cricketer earns his stripes in the longer formats of the game. “Pollard in my opinion is not a cricketer,” is his take on the young allrounder.

Holding is also critical of international players putting Twenty20 leagues ahead of the international game and blames the system for letting it happen. “I can’t say to a young man ‘don’t make a living’, but they need responsible guidance. It is your parents who guide you and in cricket the parents are the boards and the ICC. They need to show some leadership. It saddens me that the West Indies captain [Chris Gayle] is allowed to show up one day before a Test series because he is playing for the IPL.”

West Indies cricket’s loss has clearly been athletics’ gain. Usain Bolt was said to be a handy cricketer before he concentrated on sprinting and during a charity match on Sunday he proved just how capable he was. Bolt not only struck Chris Gayle for a straight six but, as this Youtube video shows, he went on to bowl Gayle after welcoming him to the crease with a rising bouncer.

Reuters reported that Bolt brought the crowd to their feet when, “taking a long run up and bowling at a respectable pace, [he] had given Gayle a traditional West Indian welcome with his first ball". "I told Chris to watch out I was going to give him one but he didn't really believe it," Bolt said after the game.

Bolt batted with his brother Sadeeki and made 13 but reportedly looked more rusty with the bat than with the ball. His technique even impressed Curtly Ambrose, who was taking part in the match and said he was pleased to see Bolt’s “short and very surprising” opening ball to Gayle.

"I was pretty good as a kid and my cricket coach said I should concentrate on bowling because I was pretty quick running in," Bolt said. "I also used to open the batting for the school team but I haven't batted for a long time. The six was a brilliant feeling though. I shouldn't have got out so early but that six was a brilliant shot."

The West Indies squad arrived in Johannesburg on Monday morning for the Champions Trophy. Half a world away, those left behind were serving up a reminder – as if any was needed – of just why the mess in the Caribbean needs to be sorted out ASAP. While Floyd Reifer was leading his boys off the plane, his predecessor Chris Gayle was blasting out a typical innings – 75 off 59 balls – for a CARICOM Superstars XI against Guyana. The match, attended by Bharrat Jagdeo, the Guyana president and head of CARICOM who recently had charged the WICB with undermining the talks, was part of the President's Premier League Twenty20 series. It also featured other stars out in the cold: Ramnaresh Sarwan, Xavier Marshall, Kieron Pollard, Daren Ganga and Darren Bravo. So Ricky Ponting, who’s said he doesn’t want to face a second-string West Indies side later this year, knows where to find the real thing.

There isn’t much that Brian Lara hasn’t done on a cricket field but taking part in a Twenty20 match is one of them. He played 131 Tests and 299 ODIs but no Twenty20s – international or domestic. That will change next month when Lara leads a Trinidad & Tobago side against a West Indies XI in a charity Twenty20 match.

The West Indies XI will be led by Chris Gayle, who had opted out of the series against Bangladesh because of a dispute over player contracts with the West Indies board. The proceeds from the event will go to the Pearl and Bunty Lara Foundation, West Indies Players Association's Development Fund and other players' charities.

	© The White House

George Bush tried – and failed – to swat a tennis ball with a cricket bat on a trip to Pakistan in the dog days of his presidency, but the meeting between Brian Lara and President Barack Obama in Trinidad was an altogether more successful affair.

Obama took time out from attending the Fifth Summit of the Americas to meet with Trinidad’s most famous cricketer. While his sport of choice is basketball, Obama was given a brief batting lesson by Lara, although attempts to teach him to drive were slightly less successful that his lesson in playing the forward defensive.

Obama greeted Lara by saying that he “always wanted to meet the Michael Jordan of cricket”. Lara repaid the compliment by presenting the president with a signed bat.

“It was beautiful,” gushed hotel manager Ali Khan. “You could see the expression on [Obama’s] face and his daughter’s. He was truly emotional and touched as were all of us.”

Following on from being named Guyana's sport personality of 2008, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has again been shown the love of his countrymen by having a street named after him in Georgetown.

	Shivnarine Chanderpaul Drive (see map) © Google / DigitalGlobe

Last night, New Garden Street - just outside Bourda Cricket Ground - was renamed Shivnarine Chanderpaul Drive in honour of their favourite son. "He is an outstanding son of the soil and he has done us proud," said Hamilton Green, the mayor of Georgetown. "He is recognised all over the world as an outstanding cricketer and we in Guyana are truly proud of him."

It's a good job the mayor didn't decide to make mention of some of Chanderpaul's eccentricities at the crease, choosing instead to name it a "drive." Though there is still time for a fish restaurant - The Chanderpaul Crab - to be opened in honour of his awkward, yet remarkably effective stance.