The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport remembers former West Indies cricketer Michael “Joey” Carew’s prowess on the field and counts his nurturing of Brian Lara’s talent as a lasting legacy to the sport. According to a press release Carew, 73, passed away last Saturday at his home after suffering a heart attack. He was cremated yesterday in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago.
The ministry noted that Carew “was an early cricketing favourite for Guyanese lovers of the game when he first played, decades ago, at Bourda, with and against our own greats like Kanhai, Solomon, Butcher and Gibbs, both at quadrangular tournaments and later in tests for the emergent West Indies.” It also recognises his ability when he relinquished his on-field opening batsman role and demonstrated equal prowess at managing aspects of both Trinidadian and West Indies cricket.
“He was one cricketer who never lost interest in the present and future fortunes of West Indian Cricket,” it noted. Additionally, cricketing history will record for posterity, that Carew almost single-handedly “fathered, nurtured and gave the game the prodigy that became Brian Charles Lara.” According to the release, “That is but a personification of the legacy that Joey Carew has left West Indians and the wider world of cricket lovers…Thanks, Joey, for an innings well played, from the government and people of Guyana.”
