Kieran Omar Akeem Powell has been named as Nevis’ Sports personality of the year-2019. This signal honour has been ascertained by Nevis Television’s Sports Page, after carefully assessing the performances of various Nevisian athletes throughout the year.
Powell was dropped from the West Indies test team, after a string of failures, but during the recently concluded Regional Super 50 Cricket Tournament, he showed his grit and determination, as a ‘comeback kid,’ to outshine all of the other batsmen. He not only led the way in terms of the run scoring for the Leewards Hurricanes, who actually made it to the finals this year but even more significantly, was the batsman with the most runs for the entire tournament.
Darren Bravo was second with 481 runs and Rovman Powell was third with his 412 runs.
This undoubtedly will place the 29 year old, squarely on the radar of the West Indies cricket selectors once again. In his ten matches and ten innings during the tournament, Powell scored 524 runs, with two centuries and two half-centuries. He struck some 6 sixes and 56 fours, at an average of 58.22.
Other Nevisian sporting heroes who were considered for the prestigious honour, were:
Umpire Carl Tuckett, who made waves in an international tournament held in Canada, as one of the top umpires on show; the youthful Zakeese Smith, who copped a scholarship to the USA, due to outstanding performances for the St. Kitts-Nevis youth Football team; Adrian Williams, who continues to secure medals in Javelin, while studying in the USA and Jason Campbell who was one of the leading bowlers in the recent regional tournament, with his 12 wickets.
Congratulations to Kieran Powell and every good wish to him, as he once again seeks to wear the Windies colours in 2020.