Tagenarine Chanderpaul has made a strong case to be included in the playing eleven for the first Test match against Australia by scoring a fine century against the Prime Minister's XI on Thursday. Tagenarine, the son of West Indies legend Shivanarine Chanderpaul, has been in red-hot form throughout the season and scored 119 as West Indies are 234 for seven in the four-day Warm-up match at Canberra.

The Prime Ministers XI scored 322 runs and the visitors had a great start with Chanderpaul and Kraigg Braithwaite putting on 94 runs for the first wicket. However, a mini collapse ensued after Braithwaite was dismissed by Steketee. Nkrumah Bonner, Devon Thomas and Kyle Mayers soon followed back to the pavilion to leave the visitors reeling at 138 for four. Chanderpaul then started a recovery job with Joshua da Silva to steady the ship and scored a hundred on Thursday.

The opener's innings consisted of 18 boundaries and one six. His innings finally came to an end at the hands of Joel Paris This knock would certainly have put Chanderpaul in consideration for the first Test at Perth on 30th November. The 26-year-old was the second-highest run-scorer in West Indies first-class cricket in 2022. He averaged 73.16 while also starring for the country's A team. The opener certainly has the backing of the West Indies skipper Braithwaite who has predicted big things for the 26-year-old while talking to Cricinfo.

"I think the partnership will work extremely well, to be honest," he said. "Tage is obviously a guy that could spend a lot of time (in the middle). For me, my game, there's nothing that's going to change, just focusing on being in the right positions for each ball and… I look forward to the partnership. I've seen him play first-class for a little while, and he's always impressed (in whatever) time he has spent (batting). And I really look forward to seeing us do good things together," said Braithwaite.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP