Narine named T&T cricketer of year

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine was named T&T’s Cricketer of the Year mere hours after copping the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Emerging Player of the Year award in Sri Lanka. The announcement came at the T&T Cricket Board’s (TTCB) 56th annual presentation ceremony at the Couva/Pt Lisas Chamber of Commerce Building in Couva on Saturday night. Narine had a good year for T&T with the ball and was instrumental in this country’s qualifying for the Champions League.

He also picked up 31 wickets in three regional First Class matches, swaying the adjudicators in his direction. He beat out skipper Denesh Ramdin, Kavesh Kantasingh, Darren Bravo and Keiron Pollard for the top award. Another off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth shared the spotlight with Narine, as he was named Premier League cricketer of the year for his wonderful performances for Queen’s Park during the past season. Queen’s Park, led admirably by Justin Guillen, made a clean sweep of the local titles, bagging three and was duly named club of the year for their efforts.

 

 

The young cricketer of the year was left handed opener Jeremy Solozano who was very prolific during the recently concluded regional under-19 tourney. On the women’s side, West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira was named female cricketer of the year.  Minister of national security Jack Warner was on hand to deliver an address and said he was ready to take back his comment that cricket is dying. “Some years ago I made a comment that cricket is dying and we needed a change in administration. I had a chat with Azim Bassarath in Moruga and he said once given a chance he would change things. I would like to take back that comment tonight because he is doing a wonderful job and cricket is prospering in this country. I will say nothing about the other sport.” Warner was special advisor to the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) but is now not involved in football administration anymore. Bassarath in his address announced that the TTCB administration building will be renamed in honour of former president Alloy Lequay.

 

 

He also shared that Lequay will soon be getting an Honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies. Delivering a very interesting and vibrant feature address was the president of the T&T Olympic Committee, Larry Romany. He held the large audience captive with his delivery, as he spoke of what is needed by the various sporting disciplines in this country for sports to move forward. He also added that he would like to see T20 cricket at the 2020 Olympics, adding that this would be a financial boost to the game.