Former West Indies batting coach  Toby Radford has urged Caribbean batsman to emulate Shivnarine Chanderpaul if they want to find the kind of consistency that leads to a successful career.

Chanderpaul retired from international cricket in 2016 after an incredible, if unheralded, career that saw score 30 Test centuries and 11.867 Test runs. During that career in which he often played the sheet anchor role in the West Indies middle order, he had scores of 50 or more 96 times, which saw him end his playing career with a healthy average of 51.37.

His tenacity, refusing to give his wicket away cheaply, became a trademark for the soft-spoken Guyanese batsman.

Radford, who had two coaching stints with the West Indies, the last ending just before the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, believes that batsmen in the Caribbean have been lacking in the kind of application shown by Chanderpaul during his playing days.

In the recently truncated season of the West Indies Four-Day Championship, no batsman scored more than two centuries with Jason Mohammed, Nkrumah Bonner, Paul Palmer Jr., John Campbell and Kyle Mayers, the only batsmen to do so.

In addition, only three batsman - Jermaine Blackwood, Kyle Mayers and Devon Smith scored more than of 600 runs during the season.

The numbers bring into sharp focus the apparent inability of the batsmen to remain at the crease for long-enough periods to score heavily.

“Could a player be a lot better if he reined himself in, prepared to bat a bit longer and prepare to bat through the difficult patches?” Radford said during an interview with News Room Sport.

“Someone like Shiv, if you bowled three tight overs, Shiv would play three maidens, but in the fourth or fifth over when you are tired, Shiv would pick you off because he had the patience. For him, the mental capacity to be patient is part of that as well,” Radford explained.

He added that some players have been impatient and eager to play big shots all the time leading to their downfall.

“It doesn’t matter how talented you are, if the all is not there in the right spot, you can’t put it away,” he said.

 “I tell a lot of young players that Shiv Chanderpaul was professional and that’s the mindset you want to see with your young players coming through, this hunger and sell your wicket so dearly; do not give your wicket away and that was Shiv.”