MerryBoys honour Kanhai and Khan

MerryBoys captain Kanhai lead the club to the Carib Sunday League and Eastern Credit Union National League Division I titles this year and was in scintillating form with both bat and the ball.

Also receiving top awards were Morad Khan who was named the “Youth Cricketer of the Year” and ‘Most Improved Player” while long serving statistician Anthony Gill was honoured for his dedicated service to the club.

Attending the function were Minister of Public Utilities, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid; president of Ceramic Trinidad Limited MerryBoys, Patrick Rampersad; former Chairman of Selectors for the Trinidad and Tobago cricket team, Dudnath Ramkessoon; former executive member of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, Baldath Mahabir; chairman of the North East Zone, Arjune Ramlal; and Ceramic Trinidad Limited representative, Roger Hadeed.

Hamid in his feature address congratulated MerryBoys on their recent successes while describing the occasion as an “honour’ to speak to an audience from his home town of Diego Martin for the first time. He added that MerryBoys and cricket were a big part of his life watching many games at the ground at Patna, Diego Martin while also working as scorer at the Queen’s Park Oval in high school for international and regional matches.

“Cricket is a proper reference for life…because you are part of a team but your individual performances are also measured. This mirrors life and it shows the important role of the individual.

“A good batsman can score 100 runs but on another day make a duck. The best batsmen can have depressing times while an ordinary person can achieve greatness, a perfect example is Jerome Taylor who is not primarily a batsman but was able to score a century against New Zealand,” said Hamid.

He noted that West Indies cricket must return to their winning ways because it was on the field of cricket where we were superior to all nations.

Hamid said that the Caribbean was dominated economically, socially, culturally by the British and the one area where they could not dominate us was on the cricket pitch and players must work harder so they ought not to give up victory and dominance so easily.

The minister added that West Indian cricketers must continue to demonstrate to the world and collectively stand up and show their equality and superiority on the cricket field. President of Ceramic Trinidad Limited MerryBoys Rampersad in his welcome address launched a scathing attack on the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) on their governance of local cricket.

He highlighted the TTCB’s decision to send home six players from the national Under-19 team without any action taken against the management before naming the manager of the team as “Administrator of the Year”; also the stance by executive members of the board to pay themselves but not the players properly which resulted in a player strike before the Stanford Super Series; selection of a alternative team for the Stanford Super Series without the knowledge of the selection panel and the resignation of Ramkessoon after being demoted as Chairman of Selectors under a new TTCB selector “rotation policy”.

Rampersad said that by winning two major titles and being named as “Club of the Year” after playing all their matches without a home ground showed that MerryBoys were a disciplined club after being tagged the “bad boys” of local cricket.

He also extended his thanks to St Mary’s College and Ron Faria for allowing them to use the college grounds. Rampersad also expressed his appreciation to Bryan Davis and Queen’s Park Cricket Club for their assistance throughout the season.

MerryBoys Honour Roll:

Cricketer of the Year - Aneil Kanhai

Cricketers of the Year - Morad Khan, Kenton Thompson, Kieron Lynch, Aneil Kanhai, Lincoln Roberts

Youth Cricketer of the Year - Morad Khan

Most Improved Cricketer - Morad Khan

Club Honouree - Anthony Gill

Club Spirit Award - Avalon Garraway

Administrator of the Year - Joseph Lewis

Outstanding Club Contribution - Tony Sattan, Lalchan Coonai, Watson Daniel

Supporters Award – Kevin Mahadeo

Carib Sunday League (Reserve Team)

Most Runs - Christopher Alexis (142)

Most Wickets - Joel Sinanan (11)

Best Fieldsman - Miguel Mahabir

Most Valuable Player - Dominic Choy

Carib Sunday League (First Team)

Most Runs - Kenton Thompson (346)

Most Wickets - Aneil Kanhai (23)

Best Fieldsman - Franklyn Rouse and Dominic Choy

Most Valuable Players - Aneil Kanhai

Carib Twenty20

Most Runs - Lincoln Roberts (165)

Most Wickets - Aneil Kanhai (6)

Best Fieldsman - Kieron Lynch

Most Valuable Players - Aneil Kanhai

Most Valuable Player U-21 - Joel Sinanan

Eastern Credit Union National League (Reserve Team)

Most Runs - Kadir Mohammed (207)

Most Wickets - Miguel Mahabir (11)

Best Batting Average - Christopher Alexis

Best Bowling Average - Avalon Garraway

Eastern Credit Union National League (First Team)

Most Runs - Lincoln Roberts (464)

Most Wickets - Aneil Kanhai (27)

Best Batting Average - Lincoln Roberts (33.14)

Best Bowling Average - Ken Hazel (13.67)

Best Fieldsman - Franklyn Rouse

Five Wicket

Joel Sinanan (5/32 vs Queen’s Park)

Miguel Mahabir (6/62 vs Clico Preysal)

Kieron Lynch (5/35 vs Clico Preysal)

Ken Hazel (5/15 vs Central Sports)

Morad Khan (7/33 vs Queen’s Park)

Aneil Kanhai (6/42 vs Queen’s Park)

Aneil Kanhai (6/64 vs Munroe Road)

Aneil Kanhai (5/41 vs PowerGen)

Centuries

Christopher Alexis (102 vs PowerGen)

Samuel Felix (110 vs W Connection Wanderers)

Kenton Thompson (100 vs Clico Preysal)

Lincoln Roberts (108 vs Central Sports)