Cheers to the best

Kyle Hope, who enjoyed a purple patch for ESA Field Pickwick with 1 194 runs in last year’s Caribbean Alliance First Division, was the toast of the night at the Barbados Cricket Association’s (BCA) 2009 Awards Ceremony held at the Accra Beach Hotel on Thursday night.Hope not only captured a trophy and $500 for being the Most Improved Male Cricketer but was also one of the five Cave Shepherd & Company Cricketers Of The Year.  The other four top performers were Nikolai Charles, who took 85 wickets for LIME, as well as allrounders Antonio Mayers of Police, Martin Nurse of Wanderers and Derick Bishop from BNB St Catherine.In welcoming the guests, president of the BCA, Joel Garner, indicated that a number of legal complications had delayed the 2009 awards ceremony.  He also asked people to try to assist the BCA in making Barbados’ cricket strong again rather than trying to pull down the BCA and cricket through their unwarranted criticisms.West Indies player Pamela Lavine, who recently returned from the regional Twenty20 with a century in her final game, copped the Most Outstanding Female Cricketer Award.  Goddard Enterprises presented trophies and $200 to the Most Improved Female Cricketer Shaquana Quintyne of Garrison Secondary and Shane Dowrich of Combermere.Some of the other Division 1 winners were Wayne Blackman of SuperCentre Spartan with the most catches (17) and Nicholas Carter from BRC BCL who ended the season behind the stump with 33 catches and eight stumpings.Rewards were also distributed in the lower divisions but no one could match the pride and joy on the faces of the representatives from Sagicor UWI as they collected their first Division 1 cup.