Batsman Shai Hope took away the lion’s share of prizes at the Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) held their awards ceremony on Wednesday night in Barbados.
Hope collected three top awards in front of many former legendary Barbados cricketers, who were invited to the gala affair. The right-hander was voted Test Cricketer of the Year, ODI Cricketer of the Year and the prestigious Cricketer of the Year award, which drew loud applause from those gathered for the function.
Hope’s drive to the Test award was as a result of a great performance over the 12-month period considered. He scored back to back centuries at Headlingly Leeds to take the Windies to a very popular victory over England last September. His 147 in the first essay and 118 not out in the second gave his team an unlikely win. In all he scored 727 runs in the nine Tests he played over the period.
His form in the Test arena spilt over to the ODIs and he was very consistent over the last year, scoring his maiden ODI century in Zimbabwe. The only award that he did not pick up was that of T20 player of the Year and that went to the explosive Trinidadian batsman Evin Lewis. The left-hander scored 234 runs in three T20s for the Windies at an average of 117.0.
The Emerging Cricketer of the Year award went to Keemo Paul as he had a very good season in the PCL as an all-rounder, even breaking into the Windies senior team. He has been called up for the third and final Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka this weekend at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
Devon Smith was voted as the First Class cricketer of the year, scoring a record 1,095 runs with six centuries. Roston Chase enjoyed the Super50 and won the award for Regional limited overs player. The top T20 player on the regional scene was Chadwick Walton.
On the Women’s side, skipper Stafanie Taylor was voted Cricketer of the Year for her consistent performances. She had five half-centuries in ODI over the period, averaging 41.0 and 16 wickets at 24.25. the top T20 player award went to Deandra Dottin who scored a century against Sri Lanka. She average 33.40 with the bat and for good measure claimed six wickets at 20.66.
The U-19 Cricketer of the Year award went to Windies U-19 player Kirsten Kallicharan. The right-hander from Trinidad batted well during the regional U-19 series and also for the Windies U-19 in representative matches.
2018 HONOUR ROLL
n Windies Cricketer-of-the-Year – Shai Hope
n Windies Test Cricketer-of-the-Year – Shai Hope
n Windies ODI Cricketer-of-the-Year – Shai Hope
n Windies T20 Cricketer-of-the-Year – Evin Lewis
n Windies Emerging Cricketer-of-the-Year – Keemo Paul
n Windies Women’s T20 Cricketer-of-the-Year – Deandra Dottin
n Windies Women’s ODI Cricketer-of-the-Year – Stafanie Taylor
n Windies Women Cricketer-of-the-Year – Stafanie Taylor
n CWI Lifetime Achievement Award – Carol Whilby-Maxwell
n WIPA Lifetime Achievement Award – Dawnley Joseph
n First Class Team-of-the-Year – Guyana
n Regional Under-19 Team-of-the-Year – Guyana
n First Class Four Day Cricketer-of-the-Year – Devon Smith
n First Class 50 Over Cricketer-of-the-Year – Roston Chase
n Caribbean T20 Cricketer-of-the-Year – Chadwick Walton
n Windies Under-19 Cricketer-of-the-Year – Kirstan Kallicharan
n Atlantic/WIPA In The Community Awardee – Rodney Sieunarine
n CWI/WIPA Outstanding Foundation Awardee – The Marlon Samuels Foundation
n Windies Umpire-of-the-Year – Joel Wilson
