By Sean Devers
SINCE 1877 when the first Test was played in Australia, 19 father/son pairs have been involved at the highest level but for the first time in the long and rich history of Test cricket, a son has matched his father by scoring a double century.

When West Indies opening batter Tagenarine Chanderpaul scored an unbeaten 207 against Zimbabwe, he and his father became the only father/son pair in the world to achieve the feat of both scoring a Test ‘double.’ The 26-year-old Tagenarine, known to his friends as ‘Brandon,’ scored his double recently against Zimbabwe, while his father Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored an unbeaten 203 on his captaincy debut against South Africa on his home ground, GCC Bourda, in 2005 .

Tage, who made 15 in the second innings to take his aggregate to 382 from three Tests at an Average to 76.40, is one of only 10 West Indian batters that converted their made maiden century into a double.

Sir Garfield Sobers converted his first hundred into a record breaking triple century when he made 375 against Pakistan at Sabina Park in Jamaica in 1958.

Sobers’ record lasted until Brian Lara broke it against England in 2004.

Jamaican Lawrence ‘Yagga’ Rowe converted his first ton into 214 and followed it up with an even 100 in the second innings of his debut Test, while Bajan Kyle Mayers is the only other West Indian to convert a debut hundred into a ‘double’ when he made 210 against Bangladesh last year.

Brian Lara’s first of his 34 centuries was made against Australia in 1993 while Rohan Kanhai’s first double (256) was made against India in India in 1958. Kanhai’s 256 in 1958 is the highest Test score by a West Indian against India.

Sherwin Campbell’s first ton was converted in 208 in Barbados against New Zealand in 1996; Seymour Nurse’s first century was 258 against New Zealand in New Zealand in 1969 while Dennis Atkinson converted his first century into 219 against Australia in Barbados in 1955.

Guyana’s Faoud Bacchus’ first ton was converted into a double before he was dismissed in bizarre fashion. Bacchus, when on 250, hit off-spinner Shivaramakrisna Venkataraghavan for six, only to hit his wicket while completing the shot.

Bacchus’ feat was accomplished on the 1979 tour of India when Alvin Kallicharran led a second string side to the sub-continent while Guyana’s Clive Lloyd was leading an almost full strength West Indies side that played in the Kerry Packer Super-Test Series in Australia.

Tagenarine also joined 30 other West Indians to score a double century with four of those going on to register triple centuries.

Lara’s nine scores of over 200 is the most by a West Indian and only behind Australia’s Sir Donald Bradman (12) and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakara (11) while Lara is the only batter to breach the 400 mark which he made against England in 2004.

Gordon Greenidge has four double centuries (226, 223, 214, & 213) while Sir Vivian Richards (291, 232 & 208) and Chris Gayle (333, 317 & 208) have three doubles each.

Kanhai (250 & 217), Ramnaresh Sarwan (291 & 261), Panama- born Sir George Headley (270 & 223), Sir Everton Weeks (207 & 206) and Sir Frank Worrell (261 & 237) have in excess of 200 runs twice in Test cricket.

Clifford Roach, Conrad Hunte, Seymour Nurse, Denis Atkinson, Basil Butcher, Clyde Walcott, Bacchus, Wavell Hinds, Jimmy Adams, Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Braithwaite, the present West Indies captain, have also scored a ‘double’ during their careers.

Since making his first-class debut in 2013 against the Leewards in Antigua, Tagenarine has scored 3226 runs with seven centuries and 12 fifties from 54 matches with a highest score of 207* and an average of 37.95.

Tage Chanderpaul is among eight Guyanese batters with double centuries with Kanhai (2), Sarwan (2), Bacchus (1) Butcher 1 (209*), Shiv Chanderpaul (1), Lloyd (1) and Hooper (1) achieving the land mark.

Tagenarine, who bowled right-arm leg-spin and left-arm orthodox at U-15 level, is now at the start of his Test career and has the right temperament to score ‘big’ runs.
Can he develop the burning desire to keep improving his craft with hard work and dedication and be consistent?

These were the hallmarks of his father, one of eight West Indies batters to average above 50. His dad’s 164 Tests are the most by any West Indian while his 30 centuries and 11,867 runs, is only behind Lara’s 34 tons and 11,912 runs.

If Tagenarine, who lives with his mother Annelie in Guyana, can inculcate his father’s attitude to batting into his game, he could have a long and successful ‘red ball’ career.

Matching his father’s stats will be hard for any West Indian to achieve especially with the low number of Tests played by West Indies now.