Hinds Jamaica’s Cricketer of Year

KINGSTON: Wavell Hinds has been named Jamaica’s Cricketer of the Year for 2003 at the Jamaica Cricket Association’s annual awards ceremony.

The 27-year-old West Indies opening batsman and part-time medium-paced bowler showed great resilience to rebound from being dropped by the West Indies selectors after the two Tests of the home series against Australia earlier this year. He dominated the West Indies batting in the limited-overs series against the Aussies and then played a major role in the subsequent home Test series against Sri Lanka and in the recent Test series in Zimbabwe. West Indies captain Brian Lara has also come to rely heavily on his medium-paced, swing bowling to add variety to the attack.

Hinds’ West Indies teammate Jerome Taylor was named Young Cricketer of the Year. He made his international debut in the home series against Sri Lanka earlier this year, after leading Jamaica’s bowling with 36 wickets in the inaugural Carib Beer 2003 Cricket Series. David Bernard Jr with whom Hinds and Taylor played during the home series against Australia and Sri Lanka won the Laurie Williams Award for the Most Disciplined Senior Jamaica Team Player. The award honours the memory of the late Jamaica all-rounder who died in a car crash a year ago.

Former Test umpire Johnny Gayle received the JCA President’s Award from Jackie Hendriks, the president of the JCA and former West Indies Test ’keeper/batsman. Gayle, a former president of the Jamaica Cricket Umpires Association and former secretary of the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association, was honoured for his services to cricket administration. The Jamaica Under-15 side that won the West Indies junior championship earlier this year also gained special recognition, along with participants at this year’s Shell Cricket Academy of the St George’s University in Grenada, chiefly Tamar Lambert, the Academy’s top cricketer, Dwight Washington, the Academy’s most improved fast bowler, and Maurice Kepple, the Academy’s most disciplined player.