GUYANA and West Indies left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul is having one of his best seasons in the sport, is unarguably one of the best bowlers in the Caribbean and last week he was named Sportsman-of-the-Year by the National Sports Commission (NSC). A panel of 12 gathered at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and had given Permaul the edge over motor racing ace driver Kristian Jeffrey whom Permaul beat into the runner-up position.

“It’s a tremendous achievement for me to win the Sportsman-of-the-Year award because it’s something everyone who plays sport in Guyana looks forward to and would want to win and I’m happy that I was able to come out on top.”
Pundits around the region, especially those in Guyana felt disappointed that Permaul, the leading wicket-taker in the Regional 4-Day competition was not given the nod by the West Indies selectors, after Sunil Narine had opted out of the West Indies World Cup squad.

Jamaica’s Nikita Miller was called to replace the Trinidadian, though statistically Permaul was better.
His local team, the Albion Cricket Club in a number of editorial letters, cried foul over the 25-year-old’s omission, stating that Permaul has been in outstanding form in both the four-day and one-day regional competitions and had excelled in all departments of the game, be it batting, bowling or fielding, and he should have been an automatic choice to replace Narine.
But Permaul, speaking exclusively to Chronicle Sport yesterday at the Ogle International Airport, said that the snub, though it affected him a little, is now in the past and that he’s looking forward to helping Guyana win the Regional 4-Day tournament and still has West Indies cricket at heart.
“I’m not really looking back at that. I’m doing my best to help Guyana win and I’m looking to take control of what I can on this end and let West Indies Cricket worry about that. I will continue to play good cricket until the selectors believe it’s my time and I will go and give 100% to West Indies cricket, just like I do whenever they call on me.”
Permaul, who made his Test cricket debut against Bangladesh in 2012, further added that “the Sports award is hard work paying off and I will continue to work hard to be the best at what I do and help my country and West Indies cricket in the future”.

By Rawle Toney