Cricket: Chanderpaul's test career set to end

West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, seen here being caught by England's Chris Jordan, is reported to have played his last test. Photo / AP

West Indies veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul's long Test career looks over, with the 40-year-old reportedly to be overlooked for next month's two matches against Australia.

Chanderpaul is just 45 runs from Brian Lara's record 11,912 Test runs by a West Indian but poor form appears set to deny him the chance to eclipse that tally.

In 164 Tests Chanderpaul has scored 11,867 Test runs at 51.37 including 30 centuries.

Chanderpaul has scored five hundreds in 20 Tests against Australia, including a 69-ball ton in 2003.

But the gutsy left-hander made just 96 runs in the recent three-Test series against England and failed to pass 50.

West Indies chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd refused to give a definitive answer when asked by Trinidad-based radio station 103FM if the veteran would take on Australia in Dominica and Jamaica.

"You can't play players if they're nearing a record, if they're not producing," said Lloyd, who played his last Test aged 40 against Australia in Sydney in 1984.

"He's an icon in so far as cricket is concerned but there comes a time when we would have to say 'thanks very much'. It comes to all of us.

"If it does happen you have to move on and you have to accept certain things in life."

Chanderpaul famously claimed in 2011 he'd been asked to retire by the then Windies selectors following that year's World Cup and was subsequently dropped from the one-day side after he refused.

- AAP