Lloyd, Kanhai, Hooper, Gibbs, Chanderpaulnamed five greatest Guyanese cricketers
Stabroek News
April 20, 2004
Clive LLoyd, Rohan Kanhai, Carl Hooper, Lance Gibbs and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were voted the all time best Guyana cricketers by the people of Guyana in the Scotiabank West Indian Jubilee gala event on Sunday night at the Umana Yana.
Lloyd who gained the most votes was subsequently adjudged the greatest player in the territory of Guyana from a shortlist of 15 players including Basil Butcher, Stephen Camacho, Roy Fredericks, Alvin Kallicharran, Roger Harper, Robert Christiani, Faoud Bacchus, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Colin Croft and Joe Solomon.
The five players will advance to join five other players from the territories of Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Combined Islands en route to the final selection of the five greatest West Indies players.
The Scotiabank West Indian Jubilee is a series of promotional events in celebration of 75 years of West Indies cricket.
Lloyd who led the West Indies to World Cup limited overs triumph in 1975 and 1979 also saw his 102 against Australia in the inaugural Prudential World Cup final being adjudged the best one-day performance by a Guyanese player.
UNITY TRIO! President Bharrat Jagdeo, left, Guyana Cricket Board president Chetram Singh, second left, and star batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, centre, all of whom hail from Unity, Mahaica, seem to be engrossed in Chanderpaul's tale.
Colin Croft, who failed to find favour with the voting public in the best ever Guyana five saw his 8-29 against India at Bridgetown, Barbados in the 1981-82 series being adjudged the best bowling performance by a Guyanese in tests.
Rohan Kanhai took award for the best batting performance by a Guyanese player for his scintillating knock of 256 against India at Kolkata in the 1958-59 series.
The three Shell special achievement awards went to Guysuco, Joseph `Reds' Perreira and Ron Legall.
Guysuco received their award for their contribution to cricket outside of the playing field. They were responsible for the upgrading of the community centres at the various estates which hosted not only regional but international cricket matches since the days of Clyde Walcott.
The veteran cricket commentator Perreira who possesses a wealth of knowledge on West Indian cricket was rewarded for his decades of service to cricket in the region. His voice, along with that of renowned fellow commentator Tony Cozier, is one of the better known voices on radio.
Legall, whose brother Pat is a former Guyana fast bowler, has been a tower of strength in the scoring business. Apart from being one of the most meticulous scorers in the history of cricket in the Caribbean, Legall has also imparted his knowledge on a host of young scorers many of whom now provide their services to the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation and the Guyana Cricket Board.
The roughly two-hour ceremony was attended by president Bharrat Jagdeo and other ministers of the government including Minister responsible for Sport Gail Teixeira.
Popular Guyanese musician Dave Martins of the Tradewinds fame had the audience in stitches with his presentation before belting out the crowd favourite "Cricket in the Jungle".
One of the presenters Vic Insanally caught up with Joe Solomon of the famous "Tied-Test" and asked the former West Indies batsman to relive for the audience his feelings at the time which he did in his own modest way culminating the tale with "When I accidentally threw down the stumps..."
GCB's PRO Terry Holder read a piece written by Winston McGowan while Beverley Harper read a speech by Lloyd who expressed his regret at being unable to attend the ceremony which was organised by Ed Milbank and Henry O'Grady from Quintus.