Cricket West Indies (CWI) has honored renowned cricket commentator, journalist and broadcaster Joseph “Reds” Pereira for his dedicated service to the game of cricket and sports in the region for close to 60 years.
The 80-year-old Guyanese received his award from CWI President, Ricky Skerrit, at an appreciation ceremony at Sabina Park, Jamaica during the lunch break on the third day of second Test between West Indies and India last week.
That was the 150th Test in which “Reds” as he is popularly called, he had done commentary.
Perreira’s first “live” cricket broadcast took place in 1961 in a first-clash match between his native Guyana and regional rivals Trinidad and Tobago at Rose Hall.
Ten years later, he covered his first Test between West Indies and India at Bourda Oval in Guyana.
He has also worked on 250 ODIs, including half a dozen ICC Cricket World Cups that were staged- 1975, 1979, 1983, 1992, 2003 and 2007- when it was held in the West Indies
In accepting the award, Perreira said he wanted to share it while honoring the memory of two other outstanding regional journalists and former colleagues, the late Tony Cozier of Barbados, and the late Tony Becca of Jamaica.
