Gayle is Jamaica’s ‘Cricketer-of-the-Year’

KINGSTON: Attacking West Indies opening batsman Chris Gayle has captured the Jamaica Cricket Association/Restaurants of Jamaica’s “Cricketer-of-the-Year” Award. The 25-year-old Gayle, who boasts a career Test batting average of 38.41 and an aggregate of 3,035 runs in 47 matches, was rewarded for a highly successful 2004 where he was a leading performer for the West Indies in both Tests and Limited Overs cricket. In 12 Tests this year, Gayle amassed 1,135 runs against South Africa, England and Bangladesh for an average of 54.05. He had four centuries with a highest score of 141. He also captured 12 wickets with his useful off-breaks at 36.58 each.

Gayle, who has scored 3,853 runs in 106 One-Day Internationals at an average of 39.72, scored 722 runs in 23 ODIs in 2004 for an average of 38.00. He scored two centuries with a highest score of 152. Considered a specialist bowler in this form of the game, he captured 21 wickets at 28.95 each with a runs-per-over rate of 4.73. Overall, he has taken 95 at an average of 28.72. Nineteen-year-old batting sensation Xavier Marshall joined Gayle in the spotlight taking four awards including Jamaica’s Young West Indies “Cricketer-of-the-Year” and the George Headley Trophy for excellence in youth cricket.

Marshall, recently named in a 25-man West Indies training camp to prepare for the triangular Limited Overs series in Australia in January, was also rewarded for his prolific scoring throughout 2004. The aggressive right-handed opener was the leading West Indies batsman at the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh at the start of the year as the Caribbean team reached the final before being beaten. He proceeded to dominate Jamaica’s second-tier Senior Cup two-day tournament, where he scored the most runs by accumulating 866 runs. He also had a run feast at the regional Under-19 tournament, helping hosts Jamaica to the TCL title by amassing 575 runs, the most runs in the competition.

Marshall was Jamaica’s lone star in last month’s West Indies Limited Overs championship, scoring 303 runs including an unbeaten 125 against Guyana. He also had scores of 64 against the Leeward Islands and 88 against eventual champions Trinidad and Tobago. Other top award winners included West Indies batsmen Marlon Samuels and Wavell Hinds along with former West Indies Cricket Board president Patrick Rousseau, who received the President’s Award for his services to Jamaica and West Indies cricket.