… Outstanding cricketers honoured
NOT even a half-hour delay due to power outage could have placed a damper on things at State House in New Amsterdam, the venue for the Berbice Cricket Board’s (BCB) third annual award ceremony, which was a success story 90 minutes later. The event which was preceded by a gala cocktail ceremony was attended by a large gathering which included the Guyana and Barbados cricket teams, retired Chancellor of the Judiciary, Mr and Mrs Cecil Kennard and other cricket officials across the Diaspora of the Ancient County.
Guyana and West Indies female cricketer Shemaine Campbell copped three individual awards, while West Indies all-rounder Narsingh Deonarine claimed the BCB Cricketer-of-the-Year Award and was among Berbice cricketers and officials who were honoured.
National vice-captain and middle order batsman Assad Fudadin received the Senior Inter-county Player Award while his national teammate left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul received the Senior Discipline Player Award.
Campbell shared the spotlight with Deonarine, receiving her three individual awards following an impressive performance for the Rose Hall Town Metro female cricket team, where she scored 228 runs at an average of 76 including one century and two half-centuries.
She also turned in a sterling performance with the ball, as she took 10 wickets with her leg-spin, in addition to her national performance for Guyana, as well as her international debut where she took 4-6 for West Indies female team in a 20/20 game, which earned her the Player-of-the-Match award.
Deonarine created history when he became the first batsman to score over 1 000 (1 068 in total) runs in a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) first class season last year, a feat which earned him a recall to the West Indies team, where he scored 82 in the last Test against Australia.
Other awardees for the evening included Albion Cricket Club who won the Team-of-the-Year Award following their victory in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) 2009 national 40 overs tournament, while the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club took home the BCB’s Club-of-the-Year Award.
Nicholas Cameron (Under-13), Gudakesh Motie Kanhai (Under-15), Dominic Rickey (Under-17), Jonathan Foo (Under-19), Jason Sinclair (Under-23), Loyden Lewis (Junior Discipline Award), Videsh Singh (Most Improved Player ) with runners-up Surujnarine Kandasammy and Keion De Jesus were also rewarded by the BCB.
Corentyne District (School District-of-the-Year), Dhieranidranauth Somwaru (Umpire-of-the-Year) and runner-up Roshan Moakan, Adrian Amsterdam (Coach-of-the-Year) and Patrick Lewis (Local Manager/Coach-of-the-Year) were also recognised by the ruling body for cricket in the Ancient County.
Campbell, Royston Crandon and Tremayne Smartt were also honoured with special plaques for making their debut for the West Indies, while 10 young cricketers drawn from across Berbice received medals as promising players for the future.
The players included Shawn Perreira, Shailendra Shameer, Avinash Wajid, Lalchand Ramoo, Adrian Persaud and Randolph David Jnr. Akeem Bowling, Phaffiana Millington, Parmanand Ramdat and Shimron Hetmyer.
Guyana’s Trevon Griffith and Keon Joseph along with Barbados’ Kraigg Brathwaite, Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder all received plaques from the BCB compliments of Romesh Sunich of the Trophy Stall.
West Indies batting star Shivnarine Chanderpaul was also honoured by the Board under its Tribute to Heroes Programme for his outstanding service to Guyana and West Indies Cricket and most importantly for being a positive role model to youths in Guyana.
Both the Guyana and Barbados cricket teams received souvenirs as a reminder of their participation in the WICB match which was being played at the Albion Community Centre ground, along with the umpires and West Indies selector Raffik Jumadeen who was present at the ceremony.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the BCB, Hilbert Foster, gave a comprehensive report of the board in 2009 and described the year as the best ever in the history of Berbice’s cricket, as a total of 20 tournaments were played while 60 off-the-field activities were held including the Cricket Academy, Annual Magazine and the 70th Anniversary Celebration.
Foster further outlined the BCB’s plans for this year and predicted that the game would continue its upward movement at all levels.
President of the BCB, Keith Foster, stated that he was satisfied with the positive development taking place in Berbice cricket and called on all involved in the BCB to recommit themselves to working harder this year to ensure that the high standard was upheld, while cautioning the awardees to use their awards to achieve higher goals.
Treasurer of the BCB, Anil Beharry, who chaired the evening’s programme, described the Board as a movement of progress, change and vision, and stated that they were determined to make the BCB the best not only in Guyana, but also the Caribbean.
Regional Chairman of Region Six, Zulfikar Mustapha, congratulated the BCB for its hard work among youths in Berbice, and outlined his Regional Democratic Council developmental plans for the county in the field of Sports.
Special thanks went to the following persons and companies for the assistance in making the event a huge success: GT&T Cellink, Republic Bank, Guyana Cricket Board, Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan, Regional Democratic Council, Region No.6, Regional Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha, NCN Berbice, Bishwa Panday, Chetram Singh, Conrad Plummer, Office of the Prime Minister, Joseph Lewis, Trophy Stall, University of Guyana, Michael Ramdeen, Sahadeo Singh, Justice Cecil Kennard, New Amsterdam Town Council, Demerara Bank, Balkissoon Singh, Reon King, Rohan Chandan, Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, Albion Cricket Club, Mursalene Bacchus, Hamid’s Store, GTM, CIDI, Busta, Banks DIH, Vibert Beerastat, Spready’s Snackette, DDL and all the media houses who covered the event.