Lara bags Cricketer of the Year award

The 2004 ICC Champions Trophy was another feather is Brian Lara's cap © Getty Images

Brian Lara has been named West Indies Players' Association's Cricketer of the Year for the second time in a row, at the WIPA 2004 awards function held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel. Lara, who has been in terrific form in the last 12 months, has amassed 1178 runs in 12 Tests at 58.9 with three centuries, apart from his mindboggling 400 in Antigua against England.

Lara, who topped the ICC Test rankings, also won the Test Player of the Year award and a special prize for reclaiming the Test record. While, Chris Gayle was named the one-day Player of the Year for his all-round performance, and Dwayne Bravo won the award for the Emerging Player of the Year.

Devon Smith, the Grenadian opener, was the First-Class Cricketer of the year, when he scored 842 runs in eight matches at 76.54, including four centuries. Xavier Marshall, the young Jamaican batsman, bagged the Youth Cricketer of the Year award.

The First Class Team of the Year was awarded to Barbados, while Jamaica were named as the Under-19 Team of the Year.