SIXTEEN-year-old national opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul says playing for Guyana in the current Regional Four-Day competition has done wonders for his game, as he has learnt a lot by just observing the seasoned players in action.

The soft-spoken left-hander, in his first season at the senior level for Guyana, has chalked up 176 runs from four matches at an average of 22, and a highest score of 42 against Trinidad and Tobago, making him the second highest run-scorer for Guyana, behind Leon Johnson who has aggregated 299 runs.
Johnson is the competition’s second highest runscorer behind Devon Smith of the Windward Islands with 456 runs, but the younger Chanderpaul who played alongside his father at the national level for the first time last week said the experience gained so far has been tremendous, and he is looking forward to using it to improve his game.
The Chanderpauls created history in West Indies cricket, by becoming the first son and father pair to play together at the Regional level when they turned out for Guyana against Trinidad and Tobago in the last round.
During the course of the game, Shivnarine notched up his 65th first-class ton, narrowly missing out on leading Guyana to a come-from-behind win.
Said Tagenarine, “The experience has been good so far, I’ve learnt a lot and I’m looking to use what I’ve learnt to improve my game.”
While the youngster is pleased with the knowledge gained so far, he is a bit concerned that he has not been able to build on the many promising starts during the tournament, especially his 42 against T&T in the first innings.
“That is something I would certainly like to rectify going forward. I’ve been getting some starts, but what I have to do now is build on those starts and spend a longer time at the crease,” added Tagenarine who is a dogged batsman like his dad.
Tagenarine, who turns 17 in May, earned his maiden call-up to the senior Guyana squad this year, after representing the youth team once at the Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 levels and is expected to receive his dad’s 2012 Sportsman-of-the-Year Award at next Saturday’s presentation ceremony.