April 02, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1429

PORT-OF-SPAIN (Trinidad), April 1: Shivnarine Chanderpaul went missing in action on Sunday, and turned up at the West Indies Players’ Association’s fifth annual awards to make a clean sweep of the top prizes.

The 33-year-old Chanderpaul left Guyana Cricket Board officials bewildered, when he failed to show for the second day of the national team’s final-round match in the domestic first-class championship against Windward Islands at the Guyana National Stadium, where the opening Test between the West Indies and Sri Lanka was played last week.

Chanderpaul was unbeaten on 78, as Guyana, choosing to bat, reached 312 for three on Saturday’s opening day, but the left-handed batsman stunned team officials and his opponents when he did not appear to continue his innings on the second day.

Media reports indicated that Chanderpaul left his native Guyana to attend the WIPA Awards and was expected to return on Monday.

Neither Guyana manager Carl Moore nor coach Albert Smith were aware of Chanderpaul’s departure, and Windwards manager Lockhart Sebastien was left fuming.

“This is a first-class encounter, and things like this are allowed to happen, and we wonder why West Indies cricket is in the state that it is in.”

As it turned out, Chanderpaul had plenty reason to hop onto the plane and jet his way across the channel. He eclipsed the West Indies captain Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, and Daren Powell to win the International Cricketer-of-the-Year award.

Chanderpaul also won the West Indies Test and One-day International Player-of-the-Year titles, getting the better of the same trio in both instances.

Discarded West Indies batsman Daren Ganga, the Trinidad & Tobago captain, took the Player-of-the-Year award for the West Indies domestic first-class championship.—AFP