West Indies middle-order batsman, Shimron Hetmyer, was named Cricketer-of-the-Year when the Berbice Cricket Board hosted its second annual Brian Ramphal Awards Ceremony at the Port Mourant Community Centre yesterday.
Among the attendees of the ceremony were Winifred Heywood, Mayor of New Amsterdam, Chattergoon Ramnauth and Regional Chairman of Region Six, David Armogan all of whom congratulated the awardees for their outstanding efforts over the past year and encouraged them to remain humble and dedicated to helping others.
Hetmyer, a 22-year-old cricketer from the Young Warriors Club, scored three of his four One Day International centuries in 2018, and had a successful Caribbean Premier League where he finished as the third highest run-getter with 440 runs at a strike rate of 148, enough to comfortably see him also winning Male International Player-of-the-Year.
Like Hetmyer, wicket-keeper/batsman, Anthony Bramble, maintained his form on the regional stage to finish with the most dismissals in the Regional Four-Day tournament in addition to useful knocks with the bat.
During the three-hour ceremony, the audience was treated to a dance by the boys of the Guysuco training school as well as a chutney song from President of the Guyana Volleyball Federation, Levi Nedd.
West Indies Under-15 selectee, Rampertab Ramnauth was named U-13 Cricketer-of-the-Year while Jonathan Rampersaud and Keith Simpson were adjudged U-15 and U19 Cricketer-of-the-Year respectively.
Guyana Cricket Board’s Junior Cricketer-of-the-Year, Kevin Sinclair was named the U-19 Cricketer-of-the-Year in the three-day format while Keith Simpson copped the one-day format award in the same division.
Javid Karim secured the U-21 Cricketer-of-the-Year.
Gourav Ramesh (Most Disciplined), Isia Thorne (Most Promising) and Trevon Stanislaus (Most Improved) were awarded for their efforts in the season as well.
Shemaine Campbelle, the lone female from Guyana currently in the West Indies side was named Female International Player-of-the-Year while Erva Giddings copped the Female Cricketer-of-the-Year. Guyana’s female U-19 captain and all-rounder, Shabika Gajnabi, was named the Female U-19 Cricketer-of-the-Year with Mariam Samaroo the Most Disciplined Female Cricketer, Oma Matoo, the Most Improved Female Cricketer and Ashley Ramnauth the Most Promising Female Cricketer.
Berbice U-19 coach, Andre Percival, copped the Coach-of-the-Year prize at the Inter-County level while Winston Smith secured the award for the local category.
Umpires Moses Ramphal and Imran Moakan were also honored for their services at the local and regional levels respectively.
In the second division category, the four zones each had a Cricketer-of-the-Year with Devendra Lalsa winning (West Berbice), Balram Samaroo (New Amsterdam/Canjie), Junior Sinclair (Lower Corentyne) and Rishi Persaud (Upper Corentyne).
The Club-of-the-Year for each zone was given to Blairmont (West Berbice), Young Warriors (New Amsterdam/Canjie), Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (Lower Corentyne) and All Stars CC (Upper Corentyne).
Fyrish CC was adjudged the Most Improved Club with Rose Hall Town winning the First Division Club-of-the-Year.
For their services, Orin Mangru, Neil Rudder, Angela Haniff, Dr. Cecil Beharry, Anil Beharry, Sydney Jackman, Dennis D’Andrade, Vemen Walter, Ruthel Henry, Simon Naidu, Sylvina Outar, Lakeram Latchman and Leslie Solomon were given special awards.
Henry, a long serving employee of the Board was also the recipient of over $40,000 raised on the floor in an effort to build her home. Also during the event, Upper Corentyne Cricket Association hosted their awards with Tomesh Hemraj (U-15), Aktar Nahar (U-17) and Stephon Norah (U-19) copping Cricketer-of-the-Year awards in their respective age groups while Rishi Persaud walked away as the Cricketer-of-the-Year in both the first and second divisions.
Skeldon Line Path won the Secondary School-of-the-year with Massiah Primary winning the younger school award for the second time.
No. 72 All Stars is the Club-of-the-Year with No 72 Cut and Load the Most Improved Club and No. 73 Young Warriors the Junior Club-of-the-Year.
Certificates were also handed out to Ramesh Sunich, Devindra Ramgoolam, Dennis D’Andrade, and Cut and Load Club for their contribution in the Association.
