West Indies skipper Carl Hooper was rewarded for his dream 2001 regional cricket season when he was adjudged the Cricketer of the Year by the Guyana Cricket Board at their sixth annual awards ceremony held at the Umana Yana on Tuesday night.

Hooper who scored 954 runs including four centuries and four half centuries at an average of 95.4 whilst leading Guyana to second place in the Busta Cup and the Busta Invitational Shield, was predictably also named Batsman of the Year for which he was awarded the Rohan Kanhai trophy.

The Bowler of the Year award went to West Indies leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo. Nagamootoo, who missed the first set of Busta matches, captured 17 wickets at 26.94 apiece after returning from the West Indies tour of Australia, won from Neil McGarrell who captured the most wickets 32 at 28.81 and Kevin Darlington whose 26 wickets were gained at an average of 19.11.

Also receiving individual awards were Adrian Persaud for the highest individual score (88) in the regional under-19 tournament and Jeremiah Harris who took the award for the most valuable player in the same tournament. Persaud scored 260 runs at an average of 52 while Harris captured 23 wickets at an average of 19.95.

The team of the year trophy went to the Albion Cricket Club.

The GCB also took the opportunity to reward a number of individuals for their dedicated service to cricket in Guyana including former chief justice Rudolph Harper, Frederick Rampersaud, Dr. A. Fung-A-fat, Wallace Lee, Afzal Khan, Colin Europe, K. D Persaud and the late Dolly Loakanand.

Hooper who is at present in Sri Lanka with the West Indies team was not represented and his teammate Reon King was asked to collect his awards. However, former world record holder for the most test wickets Lance Gibbs, who resides overseas but is back home on holiday, was on hand to present Nagamootoo with the trophy named in his honour.