That’s how long it has been since Kraigg Brathwaite heard the applause for a Test century by a West Indies opener and wasn’t the one taking off his helmet and raising his bat.
Back then it was Chris Gayle, a man who belongs to another era, an era he shared with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indies’ last great Test batter.
This time it was Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Shivnarine’s son, who it is hoped will found the next.
Between then, including today, Brathwaite has made 12 hundreds, the only man standing in the path of oblivion.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul became the first pair to bat on all five days of a Test match during the first Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Wednesday.
Brathwaite and Chanderpaul had put up a 336 partnership for the opening wicket in the West Indies’ first-innings over three days after it had elected to bat first.
West Indies declared with a total of 447 for six before the host put up 379 for nine. Zimbabwe’s declaration meant Brathwaite and Chanderpaul returned to bat late on Day 4, entering stumps at 21 for no loss in 13 overs.
The pair added 11 runs to the overnight total before Tagenarine was castled by Brad Evans for 15.
While there have been 10 previous instances of batters batting on all five days, none have taken place in the same Test, innings or between a pair.
Chanderpaul and Brathwaite had batted for 685 deliveries for the first wicket in the previous innings, making it the most deliveries faced by an opening pair in the 21st century and the second-most overall.
Brathwaite and Chanderpaul then fell just short of the previous record held by Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya, who had played 114.2 overs against Pakistan in Kandy in July 2000, amassing 335 for the first wicket.
Wellington Masakadza trapped Brathwaite lbw on 182, ending the opening stand at 338 in 114.1 overs, one ball short of levelling the record.
The pair scaled the 300-run mark in 644 deliveries against the home side and broke the record set by Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes (298 v England, 1990) for the highest opening Test partnership for West Indies.