Resuming from their overnight score of 221-0 with Brathwaite on 116 and Chanderpaul on 101, the pair took their opening partnership to 336 before Brathwaite was trapped leg before wicket to Wellington Masakadza for 182. The score broke the record for the best-ever West Indies opening partnership of 298 by the West Indies iconic opening pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes that was made against England in 1990.
They also became the first opening pair to bat in excess of 100 overs in an innings in the 21st century only the second opening pair to face over 600 deliveries in a Test innings, falling just short of the record held by Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya, who had played 114.2 overs against Pakistan.
It is also the ninth-highest opening partnership in Test cricket history and the first time that both West Indies openers have gone past 150 in the same innings.
Brathwaite’s marathon knock lasted 312 balls and included 18 fours.
In a bid to accelerate the scoring rate, Kyle Mayers, who replaced Brathwaite scored 20 from 24 balls in a partnership of 37 with Chanderpaul before was bowled by Brandon Mavuta with the score at 373.
Dropped at deep backward square leg on 150, Chanderpaul remains unbeaten on 161 with Raymon Reifer on one at the other end.
Masakadza has so far taken 1-53 from 22 overs while Mavuda has figures of 1-99 from the 32 overs he has bowled so far.
As one half one of a devastating batting duo, the other being Desmond Haynes, for a Windies team that rarely found itself on the losing end, it is completely understandable how the Caribbean team’s recent failures would be a cause of discomfort.
The Windies' struggles now date back decades but recently things have seemed particularly grim. At the last two World Cups, the team failed to progress from the preliminary rounds, while in the Test arena, a recent demolition at the hands of Australia will hardly have inspired feelings of all-conquering nostalgia.
“It used to hurt me but it doesn’t hurt me anymore because I don’t watch cricket anymore. Only if it is Test cricket and only if it is about a young player, who I have heard about, I will try my best to go and watch that kid play and make my own judgment about what I feel about that player," Greenidge toldSportStar.
The former batsman’s recent grievances, however, run deeper than just the poor performance of the West Indies team. Greenidge has also expressed concern for the longest format of the sport, where he scored 7558 runs, and its continued relevance and longevity in the face of the blossoming of several T20 leagues around the globe
“On a personal note, I would not like to see 50-over withdrawn and just T20 being played. I believe T20 is a spectator’s sport, and it is no anymore a cricketer’s sport. Yes, cricketers play, but T20, for me, is like fast food. Test cricket is real cricket. From Test cricket, we came to 50-over, then T20, and now we are going to 10-over, where will we go from here maybe one-over or two-over per side? Keep the cricket alive but don’t banish Test cricket, that is the real cricket we all are here for, we all grew up with.”
