Elliot, Bend take home top honours at BCA Awards

Keila Elliot and Marradon Bend clinched two of the top individual honours when the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) held their awards ceremony, at the Hilton Barbados Resort on Saturday. 

The pair copped the Most Outstanding Cricketer awards after impressive performances in the 2025 season.

Bend, who represents Spartan, ended the season as the top scorer in the First Division, after scoring 698 runs.

His contributions were instrumental in helping Spartan, who were demoted from the Elite division in 2024, gain promotion back to the top flight league.

Elliot, meanwhile, clinched the women’s award after showing steady progress and great commitment, reflected in her performances during the domestic Iris Walker tournament and also for Barbados Women at the regional level.

Eboni Brathwaite (female) and Deswin Currency (male) were named the Most Improved, Zannaiyah Bruce was named Emerging Youth Cricketer (female), with Joshua Dorne winning the male equivalent, while Zachary Carter won the Rising Star Award and West Indies all rounder Matthew Forde the President’s Award.

Most Improved Cricketer, Deswin Currency. (Photo Credit: Kurtis Hinds)

Wildey Sports Club collected the night’s biggest trophy after winning the 2025 Elite Division competition, while Spartan (First Division), Boscobelle Sports and Social Club (Intermediate Division) and St John Cultural (Second Division), were also awarded for winning their respective divisions.

While delivering the feature address, Dr Adrian Lorde urged players to continue to take pride in their performances, while being committed to clean sport. 

“The future of your sport depends on the values you uphold. Recently, many of you would have heard my views on the Enhanced Games.

“Those are games that are going to be held in May in Las Vegas, where athletes are permitted to use performance-enhancing drugs without any testing.There are significant financial rewards or incentives that are being offered. But we must ask, at what cost? How is it going to affect us in the future? We cannot allow money to tempt us into compromising our values,” Dr Lorde said.

The prominent anti-doping administrator maintained that such actions sent the wrong message to the sporting world and the next generation of athletes.

“Athletes risk their health, integrity and their legacy for these short-term gains. So, as I said before, clean sport matters. So, I address this mainly to the younger cricketers, coaches, support staff or parents; do not cheat.

There are no true shortcuts to success,” Dr Lorde advised.

During his address, President of the BCA, Calvin Hope urged younger cricketers in particular to embrace certain core values.

“The connection between pride, performance, and progress is clear; pride gives you identity, performance demonstrates your commitment and ability, while progress ensures that your efforts leave a lasting impact. 

“As you continue your journey in this sport, I encourage you to do so with pride, to carry your pride with humility, pursue your performance with discipline and embrace progress with determination,” Hope said.

“Strive not only to win, but to inspire. Not only to succeed, but to lift others, especially at this time in our nation where crime appears to be ruling some of our younger persons. And not only to compete, but to leave this sport better than you found it.”

The BCA’s marketing and communication manager, Steven Leslie, said the night capped a memorable 2025, which also saw Barbados being extremely successful at the regional level.

BCA Manager, Marketing and Communication Steven Leslie. (Photo Credit: Kurtis Hinds)

“In this particular cycle we would have won five junior tournaments and then also the Regional Super50 for the senior men. Those individuals were all celebrated and the event also highlighted Winston Stafford and Conde Riley, two long serving members of the BCA Board of Directors, who would have decided not to contest an election in 2025 in terms of the board of management, but have over 20 years in one instance and over 30 years in the other, of outstanding service,” Leslie said.

Leslie revealed that plans were well on stream for the start of the 2026 domestic season on April 4, beginning with the Three-Day Elite competition.

“Those nine series of matches will be played and then you will have a crowning of a champion in the month of August, something that we haven’t been able to do so early in the year. Then you’ve got our 50-over Cup along with the T20, so we expect a really outstanding season come 2026,” he said.

kurtishinds@barbadostoday.bb