Cautious optimism, the Chanderpaul way

His arms hung at his sides, his feet were together and his gaze was at the height of his shoulders. Not quite unusual if he was just a man standing in a queue or waiting to cross the street. But Shivnarine Chanderpaul was standing in goal for his team and he did not seem too interested in protecting it.

Twice, he was breached but then he had enough. While the rest of the West Indian squad regrouped on their makeshift football pitch, swapping bibs to decide who was on which team and generally buzzing about, a different Chanderpaul got into goal. He bounced from one foot to the next, his arms sprung up and down as though they had been freshly hinged and his eyes pierced the ground in front. There was no getting past him again.

From that moment, Chanderpaul owned the fielding session. He was sharp, alert and took part in drills 40-year olds might prefer to avoid. It was as though he had been caught off guard for a few seconds and was overcompensating.

When the observation was made a fellow team member, they answered, "It's because he does all the things that he doesn't need to do, that he can still keep playing at this level."

Does Chanderpaul himself think that? Does he believe it will keep him in the game much longer than some of his peers, perhaps even long enough to play Test cricket with his son?

"I don't know what's going to happen. Let's see."

What Chanderpaul does know is West Indies cricket is hovering a little too close to the doldrums. He acknowledged as "a fact," that they have blown every which way and as a result have become inconsistent, or as Faf du Plessis put it "they can be a hot and cold side." But he does not think their temperatures are as extreme as the first Test suggested.

"I think we're a better team than that," Chanderpaul said. "We're disappointed after Centurion We just have to put it behind us and take it as a learning experience and do better in this next match."

For West Indies to do that, they need a vastly improved batting performance after they failed to capitalise on starts in the first innings and were annihilated in 80 minutes in the second at Centurion. Chanderpaul believes they have players who can step up, but did not go as far as suggesting they would reach the height to defeat South Africa.

"They're the No.1 team in the world, and to be there you have to have the best bowling attack in the world. It's been a learning experience for the youngsters, and I'm sure they'll come out of this stronger," he said. "The guys we have here are the best in the Caribbean, that's the reason they're here. They've all scored runs in the past, scored a lot of hundreds in regional cricket. They all have talent and are bright stars for the future."

Apart from Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels, who was the highest run-scorer on their last tour to South Africa, West Indies have Devon Smith, who was had the third-best aggregate in last season's regional challenge and was leading the charts in this season's before embarking on the tour, Jermaine Blackwood, who was last season's most successful first-class batsman, and Kraigg Brathwaite, who already has a Test double hundred to his name. What they seem to lack is the ability to translate that into something strong enough to compete with a top-ranked Test team on their home turf and even Chanderpaul has accepted that.

Not even history - St George's Park was the place where West Indies achieved their only Test win against South Africa in 2007 - would draw a positive prediction from Chanderpaul.

"We had a good match then but some days you play well and some you don't."