West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul was taken to hospital for a precautionary brain scan after being struck on the head during a brave century against Australia on the third day of the first Test on Saturday. Chanderpaul attempted to duck under a bouncer from Australia fast bowler Brett Lee but the ball kept lower than expected and hit him hard on the back of the head. The left-hander collapsed to the floor and lay motionless for a while before he received medical treatment and stood up to continue his innings. Chanderpaul was on 86 at the time and went on to make 118, earning a standing ovation from the Sabina Park crowd before he was taken to hospital. "He's off at the moment having a precautionary scan just make sure there's no bad damage," West Indies coach John Dyson said. "From what the physio has said, it was very good that he was wearing a helmet, which took some of the energy out of the delivery," he added. "I expect him to take full part tomorrow, but that just depends. We're very confident that the scan will show no major damage, and just that there are a lot of runs in there." LOST CONSCIOUSNESS Lee said he was not sure if Chanderpaul had lost consciousness. "You're always worried. You don't want to see anyone get hit in the head, simple as that, I'm not a malice person," he said. "I don't know if he was unconscious or not, but when I went down to him he was looking straight up and said he couldn't feel his arms or his feet. You might want to scare a batsman or intimidate a batsman to a certain extent which is what part of what Test cricket is all about, but you don't want anyone to get hurt so I was glad that he got up and batted on and he batted pretty well after that as well," added Lee. Chanderpaul's decision to continue at the crease, with his team in desperate need of runs after a middle-order collapse, was typical of the Guyanese batsman's devotion to the cause of his team. Chanderpaul declined the chance to go home from a tour of South Africa in 2008 to be with his wife as she gave birth to their son, instead choosing to help his team in the second Test. His courageous innings helped West Indies reach a total of 312 and although they trailed Australia by 119, the game was thrown wide open by a brilliant spell of fast bowling which left Australia reeling at 17 for four in their second innings.
