West Indies middle order batsman Nicholas Pooran was named the T&T Cricket Board “International Player of the Year” when the TTCB held its award ceremony at the Centre Point Mall in Chaguanas, Saturday.
The left-handed former WI white-ball captain was in tremendous form for the Caribbean team this calendar year and in franchise cricket and newly minted captain Shai Hope stood head and shoulders above their teammates during the ill-fated ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe in which the two-time champions failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in its history.
The left-hander was not present with national senior team manager David Furlonge collecting the award on his behalf.
Pooran was part of the Trinbago Knight Riders team that made it to the finals of the 2023 Caribbean Premier League, scoring 219 runs at 32.33.
He also scored 137 not out off 55 balls to lead MI New York to the inaugural Major League Cricket title in July.
Pooran scored 428 runs in nine One Day Internationals with two hundreds at an impressive average of 61, scoring a further 234 runs at an average of 39 in eight T20 internationals.
Darren Bravo, the new captain of the Red Force, was named the “National Player of the Year” for his hundreds at the regional level.
Bravo scored 446 runs in five matches for Trinidad and Tobago Red Force during the 2023 West Indies Championship and averaged 55.75 with two centuries and a fifty.
He was also prolific in the local cricket scene, scoring valuable runs for Queen’s Park Cricket Club, and several other franchise teams.
Speaking during the awards, Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr Kishore Shallow praised the TTCB’s development programme, describing it as a path sustainable, winning cricket, “Eventually, Cricket West Indies will adopt the programmes from the T&T Cricket Board.”
Shallow also acknowledged that local and regional fans will be in for a treat as “2024 will be the biggest year in the history of the West Indies, as the region will welcome 20 teams to the Caribbean for the ICC T20 World Cup.”