By James Standley

Chanderpaul averaged 148.66 in the Test series

It is hard to know which sight English sports fans are more sick of - the rain hammering down at Wimbledon or Shivnarine Chanderpaul batting for the West Indies.

Both have been equally prominent this summer, but while it's been nice weather for ducks at SW19, they are the last things you would associate with the obdurate left-hander.

He scored 446 runs at 148.66 in the Test series and has carried on in the same vein in the one-dayers with 169 runs, without being dismissed, in the two matches so far.

The 32-year-old is expected to shake off an ankle injury in time to take part in the NatWest Series decider at Trent Bridge on Saturday, so just how do England go about getting him out?

"What you must do with a batsman like that is to bowl straight - you must have control of your direction - off stump, off stump, off stump," former West Indies pace great Colin Croft told BBC Sport.

"He doesn't play that much outside of the off stump so you bowl at the off stump - you vary your length a little bit and hope he loses concentration.

"You bowl at what he might consider his strengths, and that's the off stump. He doesn't hook, he doesn't pull, so you've got to bowl where he thinks he's strong and try to get him out.

"With the form he's been in it will be difficult but you've got to keep going."

Chanderpaul has been the most consistent West Indies cricketer for the last 15 years including Brian Lara Windies great Colin Croft

At one point during the Test series the Guyanese left-hander went over 1,000 minutes without losing his wicket.

It is the third time he has achieved the feat while no-one else in the history of the game has managed it more than once, so he clearly has an unflappable temperament.

"Alan Border, Geoffrey Boycott and Sunil Gavaskar had the same kind of concentration," said Croft.

"To be consistent like that has to make him special and in today's environment he's unique because the rest of them don't seem to think batsmanship should last more than 30 overs."

Chanderpaul has moved seamlessly from the Test to the one-day arena and England's attack look just as impotent against him with the white ball as they were with the red.

"I don't know if it's a lack of control, but for any batsman who makes runs you must have a plan and I don't know if they have a plan," said Croft.

England's attack have been unable to shake Chanderpaul's resolve

"The truth is I don't think the English bowlers are that good - I think they are very ordinary.

"What's special about England's bowling outside of Monty Panesar?"

Chanderpaul may not be the most elegant batsman to grace the game - his crab-like stance is not one for the stylist - but he averages 46.63 after 104 Tests and 39.00 from 219 ODIs.

Those are serious figures and Croft has no doubt about just how important the left-hander is to the Windies.

"Chanderpaul has been the most consistent West Indies cricketer for the last 15 years, including Brian Lara," said Croft.

"He has very seldom failed for the West Indies on any tour he's been on, despite a few illness and injuries.

"A lot people don't want to hear that because he doesn't look like Lara, he's not outgoing, he's not flashy.

"Nobody acknowledges it because he doesn't look fancy on television, but the purpose of batsmanship is to get runs."

Chanderpaul's scoring has been just as heavy and persistent as the rain this summer.

For West Indies to emerge from their slump in the post-Lara era, however, he's going to have to keep on doing it for several years to come.