Singh surprised after receiving Lifetime Award

Former Guyana Cricket Board president and WICB director, Chetram Singh, says he is surprised at the decision by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to present him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Award was presented to Singh during the recent joint WICB/West Indies Players Association (WIPA) awards ceremony held in exquisite settings in the Grand Jamaica Suite at the Jamaica Pegasus last Tuesday evening.
“It was a great honour,” said the veteran administrator.
“I wasn’t expecting anything like that. I don’t know how deserving I was of it. Anyway, I was very happy to receive the award. Those awards were never there before, so when it came up you are more surprise that you have been offered it,” Singh told Guyana Chronicle Sport on Saturday.
The event, hosted jointly by both entities for the third year, awarded cricketers who have performed exceptionally well at both the regional and international levels during the year of 2014.
Among the 12 awards handed out were two lifetime achievement awards, which saw Renford Pinnock receive the other award.
Stewardship
Singh was a fixture in regional cricket since taking over from Major General (ret’d) Norman McLean as GCB president in 1991, and has become the longest serving WICB director.
Under his stewardship, Guyana won six consecutive regional Under-19 titles, and he also oversaw the emergence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan as leading Test figures.
The senior team also won five limited-over titles and one first-class championship.
However, prior to his departure, Singh had been forced to deal with serious internal wrangling in the GCB.
He was expected to step down in 2009 but was encouraged to stay on because of the region’s hosting of the World Twenty20 Championship, and subsequently defeating Bish Panday in GCB elections.
Despite this, one of the highpoints of that year for Singh was the opening of the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence, an indoor practice facility and hostel just outside the city.