Outstanding Jamaica and West Indies female cricketer, Stafanie Taylor, displays her trophy after she was named the Jamaica Cricket Association's (JCA) Player of the Year at the JCA's annual awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel on Monday night. Taylor is the first woman to win the award. - Contributed

Former Prime Minister of Jamaica and avid cricket supporter, P.J. Patterson has called on territorial bodies across the region to play a greater role in the restoration of West Indies cricket amidst the current crisis that continues to plague the sport's development across the Caribbean.

Patterson was speaking at the annual awards ceremony of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) at the Hilton Hotel on Monday night, where 18-year-old Jamaica and West Indies women's cricket star, Stafanie Taylor, created history by becoming the first female recipient of the JCA Cricketer of the Year honours.

False security

"Our international success in previous decades lulled us into a sense of false security and caused us to forget what are the foundations on which we built to secure the advancement of the game at the international level," Patterson said. "We seemed to have forgotten that the emergence of the West Indies team at the very top was based on our territorial boards in earlier years and the high quality of competition at the regional level

"The territorial boards are responsible for the local development of the game, they must lead the charge for development within each territory," he stated.

Patterson went on to express concern about the fractious relationship between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players Association, which led to a recent strike action from several top-brass players.

"Cricket is a game of harmony and when there is any form of discordance it cannot contribute to a successful outcome ... I take some comfort in the fact that recently there has appeared a semblance of a truce, I hope it will be permanent," Patterson pointed out.

Taylor in the meantime broke into the world top ten rankings, currently holding down the number nine slot in the batting rankings and number five as an all-rounder. The youngster played some 14 ODIs for the West Indies in 2009 and scored 485 runs with an average of 37.3.

High praises

JCA president Paul Campbell hailed the teenager's achievements.

"Her performances and achievements this year have been phenomenal so we had no difficulties in awarding her. I congratulate her and she certainly deserves the recognition," Campbell said.

In a year where Jamaican teams walked away with six regional titles there was special recognition for the victorious senior men's team which won the West Indies four-day championship, the Under-15 men's team (CLICO Under-15 championship), Under-19 Women's team (Regional Under-19 championship), Visually impaired cricket team (West Indies blind cricket champions) and the all-conquering Under-19 male team that won the regional one-day and three-day championship.

Under-19 coach Andre Coley walked away with the Coach of the Year award while team captain Paul Palmer received the A.E. Rae trophy for leadership.