West Indies cricket legend Sir Vivian Richards received the Order of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) at the 43rd Conference of Heads of Government in Suriname on Sunday.
Richards, 70, received the award from Chan Santokhi, President of the Republic of Suriname.
He is one of the greatest batsmen in world cricket and was a World Cup winner with the West Indies in 1975 and 1979.
Richards played 121 Tests and 187 ODIs between 1974 and 1991, scoring 24 centuries in his tally of 8,540 Test runs, and 11 tons in his 6,721 ODI runs.
He was honored along with calypsonian David Rudder; Dame Billie Miller, former Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados; and Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, former Secretary-General of CARICOM.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors of CWI and the entire West Indies Cricket community, I want to congratulate Sir Viv on this tremendous honor, which was conferred on him by CARICOM,” Ricky Skerritt, President of Cricket West Indies, said.
“It is a most fitting honor for a true hero of our region, a man who demonstrated to the world that Caribbean people are capable of punching above our weight by achieving excellence globally,” he added.
Skerritt said that Sir Viv took the baton from the pioneers of West Indies Cricket and established new levels of greatness and dominance for others to follow.
“He used his God-given talents, his mental and physical readiness, and his cricket bat, to bring glory to West Indians all around the world,” said Skerritt.
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