West Indies great Shivnarine Chanderpaul showed that even closing in on his 43rd birthday his stubbornness at the crease remains as he stood firm for Lancashire in their county championship First Division match with Surrey on Friday.

Chanderpaul, a mainstay of the West Indies batting for over two decades and who played the last of his 164 Tests in 2015, shared a superb unbeaten seventh wicket partnership with Jordan Clark of 172 to guide his county to 294-6 on the first day.

Chanderpaul was dropped on 47 but went on to make 85 not out while Clarke was on a career best 108.

Lancashire had at one point been in a perilous position of 67-5 but Chanderpaul put on 55 runs for the sixth wicket with Ryan McLaren before the latter fell lbw to veteran spinner Gareth Batty.

Chanderpaul, who scored over 11,000 Test runs at an average of over 50, was content to play the secondary role allowing Clarke to flourish -- he beat the West Indian to 50 -- and resulting in the 26-year-old's maiden first class century.