Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell has congratulated prolific Windward Islands opening batsman Devon Smith for his record-breaking performance in the Regional 4-day Cricket Season.
Smith, a Grenadian, left-handed batsman, entered the record books with an undefeated 151-not out against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in a drawn fixture at Warner Park on Sunday.
36-year-old Smith now holds the record-holder for the most runs scored in a single-season after amassing 1,095 runs in this campaign.
“The Government and people of Grenada are very proud and excited about Smith’s achievement and we would like to extent heartfelt congratulations to this outstanding son of the soil,” said Prime Minister Mitchell, a former Grenada and Windward Islands cricketer, who has remained a passionate follower of the sport.
“Smith has worked hard and persevered to achieve such a rare feat at the regional level and the whole country was behind him. We recognise Smith’s accomplishment with an elevated level of excitement and we praise him for this. It is a timely gift from Smith to Grenada as we head to the climax of our celebrations in observance of our 44th anniversary as an independent nation.”
Smith is the 4th man to reach the 1,000-run mark, joining Narsingh Deonarine (1,068), the late Runako Morton (1,010) and veteran former West Indies and Barbados player Floyd Reifer (1,002).
He also broke the all-time scoring record for the first-class championship and surpassed 13,000 first-class runs.
“Smith is an established regional cricketer and I believe, on the basis of his prolific season, he would have earned a recall to the regional setup,” said Prime Minister Mitchell. “It would be hard to argue otherwise.”
Prime Minister Mitchell is enjoying friendly bragging rights after clean bowling West Indies legend Brian Lara and taking a catch to dismiss former Windies skipper Darren Sammy in a T20 organised by former wicketkeeper-batsman Junior Murray at the National Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
The match, which also featured former West Indies pacer Curtley Ambrose and former Windward Islands spinner Thomas Kentish, was organised by Murray to celebrate his 50th birthday.
GIS
