PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad CMC – Jamaican stars Chris Gayle and Stafanie Taylor nailed the top honours at the West Indies Players Association Awards on Sunday evening. The embattled Gayle captured the International Cricketer-of-the-Year and the Test Player-of-the-Year awards following his monumental 333 against Sri Lanka in Galle, last November.
Gayle’s triple-century was the second in his career and he became only the fourth batsman in Test history to achieve the feat.
A cloud currently hangs over Gayle’s career, however, as he has been overlooked for the first two One-Day Internationals of the current series against India following his broadside against the West Indies Cricket Board during an interview broadcast live on Jamaican radio.
Meanwhile, Taylor, who is currently ranked number two in the ICC batting rankings behind India’s Mithali Raj, took the International Women’s Player-of-the-Year trophy following an outstanding 2010 where she scored heavily in the ICC Women’s Challenge in South Africa, opening with a magnificent 147 en route to gathering 390 runs at a staggering average of 97.
Trinidadian all-rounder Kieron Pollard was adjudged as the ODI Player-of-the-Year despite scoring one half-century in 14 outings while West Indies captain and all-rounder Darren Sammy was named as the Twenty20 Player-of-the-Year. Sammy snatched 14 wickets in 10 T20s but struggled with the bat.
Impressive Guyanese leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo took the Caribbean T20 Player-of-the-Year accolade.