Gayle is Windies cricketer of the year, Sarwan ODI player

Barbados, Feb 14 (UNI) Chris Gayle has been chosen West Indies Cricketer of the Year while Daren Ganga walked away with the Test Player of the Year award at the WIPA 2006 awards function here.

The year's top one-day award went to Ramnaresh Sarwan while Jamaican fast bowler Jerome Taylor was named the Emerging Player of the Year.

The 27-year-old Gayle was rewarded for his consistency over the last year in both forms of the game. The big-hitting left-hander scored 690 runs in Tests at an average of 38.33 and took 12 wickets, besides plundering 1217 runs at 41.97 average with four centuries to boot and 29 wickets in the shorter version of the game.

Ganga stroked one century and four half-centuries, amassing 708 runs at an average of 41.65 while Sarwan rocked in the ODIs, scoring 963 runs at an average of 44.

Sarwan was a key player in West Indies making it to the finals of the tri-nation series in Malaysia and the Champions Trophy in India.

Taylor spearheaded the Windies bowling attack after returning from an injury, grabbing 28 wickets in Tests and 39 in ODIs.

West Indies legends Clive Lloyd and Sir Garfield Sobers, along with several other outstanding past players, attended the ceremony.

UNI