Guyana's cricket captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, left, receives the Clive Lloyd trophy for being adjudged the Guyana Cricket Board's Cricketer-of-the-year from Clive `Supercat' Lloyd at the Umana Yana Tuesday night. (Lawrence Fanfair photo)

Ramnaresh Sarwan received the prestigious Clive Lloyd Trophy from the 'Supercat' himself Tuesday night at the Guyana Cricket (GCB) Board's annual award ceremony held at the Umana Yana for being the nation's top cricket performer. Sarwan, who won the award for the third year in a row, scored two centuries in the Carib Beer Cup and led the triumphant Guyana team to that electrifying million dollar victory in the inaugural Stanford Twenty20 tournament in Antigua.

Gajanand Singh was chosen Junior Cricketer-of-the-Year and was presented with the Roy Fredericks Trophy by Director of Sport Neil Kumar. Singh was the top batsman in the TCL U-19 regional cricket competition held in Guyana earlier this year.

He averaged 69.5 runs, posted two centuries and led the entire competition with 417 runs in the competition which Guyana won for the first time in eight years.

Singh also helped Young Warriors of Cumberland to win the million dollar first prize in the Sharpoorji Pallonji Twenty20 national first-division competition.

Dion Ferrier copped the Senior Domestic Cricketer-of-the-Year award and received the Rohan Kanhai Trophy from secretary of the GCB Bishwa Panday.

His all-round performance for Guyana in the Stanford Twenty20 tournament, and for Demerara in the El Dorado limited-overs Inter-County competition, was the highlight of the year for this hard-working cricketer.

Esaun Crandon's bowling in the Carib Beer regional competition where he grabbed a career-best 7-125 against Trinidad, Brian Lara and all, and his amazing pinch-hitting innings batting at number three against a loaded and heavily favoured Jamaican team in the Stanford Twenty20 competition, made him a shoe-in for Most Improved Player-of-the-Year and recipient of the Lance Gibbs Trophy which he received from Chairman of the National Sports Commission Conrad Plummer.

Albion skipper Orvin Mangru received the President's Trophy for Club-of-the-Year after the Club won both the Neal and Massy and the Baron Foods national first-class limited-overs competitions.

Clyde Duncan received an award in recognition of his appointment to the Independent Panel of Umpires of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Michael Franco received an award for his continued commitment to the development of cricket through coaching.

Fazal Ishak an administrator in East Bank cricket received an award for his dedicated service to the Guyana Cricket Board while the late Morris Brandon was posthumously awarded for services rendered in an administrative capacity.

Shapoorji Pallonji received a corporate award for sponsorship of exceptional standard in the nationwide Shapoorji Pallonji Twenty20 cricket competiion while Demerara Distillers Ltd. and the Guyana Beverage Company each received corporate awards for the development of cricket in Guyana through sponsorship. Secretary of the GCB Bishwa Panday introduced the featured speaker of the evening as the widely acknowledged, greatest captain to ever play the beautiful game cricket, reminding all that Clive Hubert Lloyd's West Indies team ruled world cricket for two decades.

Lloyd, in his address said World Cup 2007 will change the face of Guyana forever and is the reformation of a great beginning. He also lauded the fantastic performance of the Guyana football team in the recent Digicell Cup where his son Jason debuted for Guyana.

Master of ceremonies, Terry Holder, Public Relations Officer of the GCB, asked the packed Umana Yana audience to observe one minute of silence for the passing of cricket enthusiast Maxie Perreira, Guyana and West Indies all rounder Charlie Stayers and the late-great Sir Clyde Walcott.

Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, in his remarks said Guyana will put on the biggest show in its history in March 2007 hosting six super eight matches in the third largest sporting event in the world.

The Minister said private sector investment alone for the event, is above five billion Guyana Dollars and the economic spin-offs attained by hosting the event will be a boost to the economy, and he proclaimed, "we are prepared to play host to the World next year."

GCB president Singh presented the keynote speaker with a special award near the end of the ceremony while Test umpire Duncan closed with a vote of thanks on behalf of the recipients.

A cocktail reception followed the ceremony.