THE membership and Executive Committee of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) along with the cricketing fraternity extended congratulations to Guyanese batting legend, Alvin Kallicharran, on being awarded the prestigious British Empire Medal in the Queen’s 2019 honours list.

The Medal of the Order of the British Empire was first established in 1917, along with the Order of the British Empire. The medal was part of the Order and could be awarded for either meritorious service or for gallantry. It was awarded to 2,015 people, 800 of whom were from foreign countries. In 1922, the original medal was discontinued and split into two separate honours which still formed part of the Order of the British Empire. These two honours were known as the Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service (usually referred to as British Empire Medal, BEM) and the Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry (usually referred to as Empire Gallantry Medal, EGM).

Alvin Kallicharran was born on March 21st 1949 and hails from the small village of Port Mourant in Berbice and debuted for Guyana at the tender age of 17 against the Windward Islands in Grenada and for the West Indies in 1972 against New Zealand at Bourda. Alvin has had a very long and distinguished career that produced close to 50,000 runs in Test, ODI, First Class and List A cricket during his career. He has represented Guyana, West Indies, Warwickshire, Transvaal, Orange Free State and Queensland during his career. His test career spanned the period 1972 to 1981 during which he represented the West Indies during the transformation period in the late 70s when they indisputably became the best team in the world. He was part of us winning the first two World Cups played in London. He played in 66 test matches and scored 4,399 test runs with 12 centuries and 21 fifties. For 8 of those fifties, he got out in the 90s and could so easily have made 20 centuries in that space of time. Alvin is well remembered for his onslaught against the great Dennis Lillee in the 11th match of the inaugural World Cup in England in1975 when he literally decimated him for 35 runs off just 10 deliveries. This stat compares very favourably with top T20 strike rates. He was equally at home against both spin and pace and was described by Clive Lloyd as one of the most complete batsmen of his time and possibly of all time. Alvin captained the West Indies team for two series, against Australia and in India, where he scored his highest test innings of 187.

Alvin joined Warwickshire in 1971, playing for their 2nd XI, but quickly advanced to the 1st XI in the following year when his playing career lasted well into the late 80s. He possibly had his best year in 1983 when he was the only cricketer on the county circuit to score over 2000 runs in the season with 8 centuries, 3 of which were double hundreds. Quite justifiably, Alvin was named one of the Wisden’s 5 cricketers of the year in 1983.

This legend has also contributed immensely to charities, having taken part in and organized matches in various parts of the world. Alvin, along with Sunil Gavaskar, organized a charity match where India played the Rest of World XI in 1997 for the Sri Satya Sai Baba entity where Sachin Tendulkar participated. Alvin has supported numerous other charity events such as the Indian Ocean Disaster Relief, the Oracle Head and Neck Cancer Research Trust and has participated in other charitable matches when he worked for the Lashings World XI during the period 2001-2009. In 2006, he was a part of ‘The Sports Relief’ which raised over £16m. He was a part of the group that rendered assistance in 2004 to the Tsunami victims and has participated in the annual PM John Major charity match which raises funds for cancer awareness.

It is without a shadow of a doubt that this esteemed son of our soil has fully displayed the everlasting qualities of humility and service to humankind. His love and dedication for the game of cricket has translated into immense pleasure and happiness for millions around the world during his professional career and has more than adequately contributed his sterling reputation and service beyond the boundary in other charitable causes.

The entire country is united in its pride and joy for this richly justifiable recognition of the British Empire Medal Award onto Alvin Isaac Kallicharran in the Queen’s honors list for 2019.