Gayle, Taylor top Jamaica Cricket Association awards

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

West Indies opener and former captain Chris Gayle, and top West Indies female player Stafanie Taylor, were on Thursday night the toast of the 2010 Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Awards ceremony when they walked away with the male and female Cricketer of the Year awards, respectively, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Gayle who, like Taylor, was unavailable to accept his award because of overseas commitments, took home the prestigious award after another successful year with the West Indies, in which he became only the second West Indian to score more than one triple century.

The other West Indian batsman to have achieved the feat is world-record holder, Brian Lara.

The 19-year-old Taylor wrote her name in the history books for the second year running, after another outstanding year in which she led West Indies women to the ICC Women's Challenge Cup in South Africa, after scoring a century and three half-centuries.

Winning the prize

She also ended the year in the top five of the ICC women's one-day batting and all-rounder rankings.

It was the first year that the country's main individual cricket award was being split into male and female categories, as, prior to this year the prize was handed out to Cricketer of The Year, which was last year captured by Taylor - the first time a woman was winning the prize.

Other special awards handed out on the night included the Young West Indies Player of the Year award, which went to new West Indies fast bowling recruit, André Russell, and the President's Award, which was this year bestowed on former national player and veteran local administrator, Renford Pinnock.

Also receiving awards on the night were the most outstanding players and teams of last season's two-day Super League and Senior Cup and one-day competitions, and the national four-day and blind cricket teams, who won their respective competitions.

In the Super League, St Ann CA's Xavier Marshall and St Catherine CC's Bevon Brown collected awards for making the most runs and taking the most wickets, respectively, while in the Senior Cup the equivalent awards were issued to St Thomas CA's Marvin Darlington and Kensington CC's Dennis Bulli, respectively.

All-rounder prize

The top all-rounder award in the Super League was presented to the Jamaica Defence Force's Sheldon Cotterell while in the Senior Cup the top all-rounder prize went to Westmoreland's Nickoy Samuels.

Meanwhile, Don Wehby, GraceKennedy chief operating officer, who was guest speaker at the event, called on the JCA and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to be more open to change, as based on developments worldwide, sports was no longer a recreational activity.

"We can no longer view cricket as just a sport ... it is a business," was his opening call during his address in which he touched on the much-talked-about WICB-commissioned Patterson Report, and called for its implementation, not just regionally, but locally as well.

"We have to look at cricket economic models that work such as the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and the Indian Premier League, and embrace it with open arms.

"Change is necessary and needed, as no longer can we operate using outdated ideals and practices, as improving the earning power for all stockholders, including players, is the name of the game," he added.

Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer