INSPIRATIONAL skipper and discarded West Indies middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan and the Caribbean’s latest batting sensation Jonathan Foo are the top contenders for this year’s Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB) Cricketer of the Year Award. When Guyana won the inaugural Stanford Twenty20 tournament in 2006, the 30 year old Sarwan was the man at the helm and it was the same scenario when they lifted the inaugural West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional T20 title following a nail biting one wicket victory over Barbados in the final.
Such a feat earned the team from the Land of Many Waters, a place in the Airtel Champions League which was played in South Africa and even though they did not qualify for the finals as their Caribbean counterparts Trinidad and Tobago did the previous year, they represented Guyana with pride.
Sarwan rose to prominence when he made an unbeaten 84 against a powerful Pakistan bowling lineup that included Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed on this test debut back in 1999-00 at Kensington Oval.
Sarwan has been producing heavily with the bat for both the West Indies and his native Guyana for whom he took over the leadership armband in 2005, where he led them to victory in the WICB KFC tournament, taking Guyana further into the history of West Indies cricket, making them the first team to win the KFC Cup.
He followed it up with the Stanford victory the following year and while Guyana failed to defend the title, (losing out to Jamaica by one run in their semi final clash two years later,) Sarwan returned to his dominant self by aggregating over 600 runs in the Digicel test series against England, including his highest test score of 291 at the Kensington Oval last year.
Such an innings was preceded with scores of 106, 94 and 107 and even though  he was snubbed by the WICB with regards to a retainer contract, he placed that aside and led Guyana with pride in the recently held Regional limited overs tournament in Jamaica.
The 20 year old Foo rose to prominence in this year’s WICB Caribbean T20 with his clean explosive hitting that not only took Guyana to the title, but also a place in the Champions League.
Many had touted him to lead Guyana’s charge along with the experienced Sarwan, Travis Dowlin, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Narsingh Deonarine and Royston Crandon, all players who had represented the West Indies before.
Having displayed his ability to hit the ball hard and clean as an Under-19 batsman, the senior selection panel of the GCB thought it best to inject Foo into the senior team for the CT20, a move that paid dividend, since his feats in that tournament are well known today.
He said thanks with match winning innings against Windward Islands in the first match in which he took 10 deliveries for his 24 runs, followed by a gem of an innings in the final against Barbados when all was lost, to see Guyana through.
Other contenders, but more in the category of minor rather than major as Sarwan and Foo, are right handed leg spinner Devendra Bishoo and left handed middle order batsman Assad Fudadin, whose game has improved leaps and bounds over the year, with both players being given West Indies ‘A’ team call ups.
Certainly, those making the selection as to who will receive the coveted award next Wednesday at the Umana Yana, will have a tough task doing so, but whether its Sarwan or Foo, or even one of the minors, certainly one can say Guyana had a good year in the Gentleman’s game over the past year.