Lara wins Trinidad board's International Cricketer award

Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, and his team-mate Daren Ganga were the toasts at the 50th Annual Prize Giving and Awards Ceremony of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board.

Lara, who in November 2005 broke the world record for the most runs in Test cricket, walked away with the International Cricketer of the Year Award, while Ganga, the Trinidad captain, won the Senior National Cricketer of the year title.

Ganga, who led Trinidad to their first ever double title in the regional competition, was joined by Rayad Emrit, Richard Kelly, Denesh Ramdin and Dave Mohammed as the five outstanding cricketers of the year. PowerGen Sports, winners of the Carib National League Division One competition, was adjudged Club of the Year.

Gerard Ferreira, chairman of the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago, delivered the feature address and showered accolades on the administration of the TTCB for the efficient manner in which they were handling their affairs and for the several initiatives taken this year with respect to their youth development programmes.

In his welcome address Deryck Murray, president of the TTCB, claimed that his organisation did exceedingly well this year and praised Trinidad for their outstanding success in this year's regional series. Murray said that with the help of corporate sponsors and the Sports Company, the TTCB were able to wipe out the financial deficit which his executive met when they came into office.

He said that apart from Trinidad's success, he was very pleased with the several new youth development programmes which the board had embarked upon. These include the Star Programme, the High Performnace Centres for under-15 cricketers and three youth development tours.