JONATHAN Van Lange, Sachin Singh, Nkosi Beaton, Ashmead Nedd and Christopher Barnwell received the Clive Lloyd Player-of-the-Year Awards at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) Awards ceremony which was held on Wednesday night at the historic Queenstown club.

Van Lange, who is away on table tennis duties, won for both U-13 and U-15 divisions, while Singh won the U-17 division, Beaton the U-19 division, Nedd the second division and Barnwell for the first division.

Barnwell, who is away on national duties with the four-day cricket team, was well represented by his wife Dionne Cush-Barnwell.

Dozens of trophies were presented to the club members for their outstanding performances on and off the field.

 POSITIVE MESSAGE

Prior to the presentation of prizes, Dr Vincent Adams, in his feature address, imparted his knowledge and experience to the gathering, including a number of young cricketers.

The former national cricketer, who is now head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) related his life experiences and challenged the young cricketers to have an alternative to cricket. He reminded them that they must always be prepared for the challenges of life and that they should learn from every experience.

The energy expert and scientist implored the young cricketers to stay humble and pointed to the importance of sports in his overall development. He declared that no child should be denied access to education and sport.

Dr Adams, who has a PhD in Environmental Engineering, also challenged them to keep learning and highlighted the importance of education and humility.

The 106-year-old club, which is currently the most dominant in the Georgetown Cricket Association, had several victories this year and Chairman of the Cricket Committee Mark Harper highlighted all with pride.

He pointed out that this year the Awards focused on outstanding cricketers who would have represented the club, among them was current president Roger Harper.  The former West Indies great told the youngsters who missed out to keep striving.

“Tonight I say to the other players who missed out, don’t just say I wish it was me, set your goals and work towards them. Nothing is accomplished without hard work.”

EDUCATION AWARDS

Shalom Ault received the Dr Vincent Adams Award for being the club’s top Grade Six student for the year. He also copped a special award from the new partner of the DCC – the International SOS.

Beaton also collected a special award from SOS – the Justice Aubrey Bishop Award, for being the club’s top CSEC student of 2018, while fast bowler Qumar Torrington took the Frederick Wills Award for his outstanding achievements at CAPE.

Second Division captain Lyndon Lyght was the recipient of the William Whyte Award for his sterling contribution and leadership of his squad.

Van Lange (U-13), Jaden Campbell (U-15), Singh (U-17 and second division), Beaton (U-19) and Barnwell (first division) all received the Roy Fredericks Award for outstanding batting performances during the year.

Romeo Deonarine (U-13), Gustavo Hutson (U-15), Daniel Mootoo (U-17), Torrington (U-19), Xaviee Smith (second-division) and Totaram Bishun (first-division) were all presented with the Lance Gibbs Award for outstanding bowling performances.

Beaton also captured the Garvin Nedd’s most improved Youth player Award, while Garrick Persaud was voted as the most improved wicketkeeper and he got the Derwin Christian Award (which was sponsored by Rawle Blyden).

Mahiem Khan (junior) and Trevon Griffith (senior) received the Roger Harper’s Best Fielder Award, while Singh, Raymond Perez (twice), Alphius Bookie, Beaton, Griffith, Joshua Persaud and Barnwell (thrice) copped the Keith Semple Award for centuries scored in 2018.

Smith (twice), Nedd (thrice), Carlton Jacques, Mootoo, Hutson, Barnwell and Bishun were all rewarded with the Carlyle Miller Award for five-wicket hauls.

Barnwell and Nedd gained two additional awards – the Andrew Lyght Sr Award for the most centuries (sponsored by the Brown family) and the Philbert Blair Award for the most five-wicket hauls in 2018 (sponsored by former Guyana and WI A team fast bowler, Leslyn Lambert, now of the USA)

Singh, who was outstanding in both the U-19 and U-17 divisions, was worthy of the Mark Harper Award for being the most outstanding Youth player for Guyana, from the DCC, while national all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford collected the Linden Joseph Award for being the most outstanding senior player for Guyana in 2018.  copped

Nedd, West Indies player Keemo Paul (twice) and Rutherford were awarded the Berkeley Gaskin Award for five-wicket hauls for Guyana.   Paul, who is on duties overseas, and Rutherford also added the Robert Christiani Award for first class/list A centuries in 2018.

Garvin Nedd received the Colin Wiltshire Award for his outstanding performance and success as Club coach in 2018, while the MP Fernandes Award for leadership and discipline went to Lawrence Smith.

Rawle Rodney collected the Lennox Hunte Memorial Award for being the DCC Club member-of-the-year, while Dennis Squires received the Executive-of-the-Year Award for his hard work and dedication to the club.

Perez was the recipient of the Travis Dowlin Award for the Most Impacting Performance-of-the-Year (32 runs in the final over in the T20 semi-finals).