Twenty-five-year-old West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd capped off a dream year after he was named the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) male cricketer of the year (2019) while his fellow Berbician Shemaine Campbelle secured the female equivalent.
Both awardees were acknowledged at GCB’s 2019 annual award ceremony, albeit in absentia because of cricketing duties, on Wednesday evening at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Pavilion.
Shepherd, who is currently in India on tour with the West Indies senior team made his One Day International debut against Afghanistan in November.
To date, he has added two more caps. Prior to securing his international call up, his involvement in Guyana’s record fifth consecutive win in the WICB Professional Cricket League Regional Four Day tournament saw his snaring 37 scalps, the highest aggregate among fast bowlers and fifth overall at the end of the tournament. Shepherd also contributed with the bat, amassing 315 runs which included two half centuries. He saw off his West Indian colleagues Keemo Paul and Shimron Hetymer – the other two nominees – for the award. Shepherd also received an award for being the most improved male cricketer of the year.
Campbelle on the other hand, who has 83 one day internationals and 99 Twenty-Twenty international matches to her name, continues to be Guyana’s leading lady in the sport. Sheneta Grimmond and Shabika Gajnabi were also in the running for the award.
The other major awards – club of the year – went to GCC while GCB’s franchise one day winners Lower Corentyne secured the “Best Franchise Team of the year 2019” award.
GCB also handed out special service awards to Deolall Rajkumar (curator of the year), Brandon Corlette (journalist in print media of the year), Elizabeth Sunich (fan of the year) and Rayon Griffith (coach of the year).
The award ceremony was attended by WICB vice president Dr Kishore Shallow who delivered the feature address while Dr George Norton, Minister of Social Cohesion with responsibility for culture, youth and sport also delivered brief remarks.
See below the other awardees:
Shabika Gajnabi – Most promising female cricketer of the year
Romario Shepherd – Most improved male cricketer of the year
Ashmead Nedd – Junior Cricketer of the year
Raymon Reifer – Senior Regional Cricketer of the year
Mavindra Dindyal – Most runs in the regional under – 15 tournament
Isai Thorne – Most Wickets the regional under – 15 tournament
Mavindra Dindyal – MVP (Guyana) in the regional under – 15 tournament
Mathew Nandu – Most runs in the regional under – 17 tournament
Sheldon Charles – Most Wickets in the regional under – 17 tournament
Sheldon Charles – MVP (Guyana) in the regional under – 17 tournament
Kevlon Anderson – Most runs in the regional under – 19 tournament
Ashmead Nedd – Most wickets in the regional under – 19 tournament
Kevlon Anderson – MVP (Guyana) regional under – 19 tournament
Corporate awards – Hand in Hand, Dave West India Imports and SBF Petroleum
