JOIN USTop honours for Gambhir, Dhoni
An evening of celebration, as Master of Ceremonies Ravi Shastri called it, saw Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni shine the brightest. Dhoni was named the captain of both the ICC One-day and Test teams of the year, and retained the One-Day Player of the Year award he had won last year.
Gautam Gambhir was adjudged the Test Cricketer of the Year to round off a wonderful last 12 months – the award period ranged between August 2008 and August 2009 – as the Indians picked up most of the individual awards in a reflection of their consistency in both forms of the game.
While Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh joined Dhoni in the one-day eleven, Gambhir and master batsman Sachin Tendulkar were named in the Test eleven.
“It’s been a wonderful 12 months for me, but I am very shocked, surprised and privileged to win this,” said Johnson after receiving his award on Thursday night from ICC president David Morgan.
Dhoni was conspicuous by his absence, having already left for home after India’s abortive Champions Trophy campaign, but India were well represented as Rahul Dravid presented the Emerging Player award to Peter Siddle, Yuvraj stepped in to receive Dhoni’s cap as skipper of the one-day team and Gambhir was at hand to collect his own Test Player honours.
“As wonderful as the last 12 months have been for me personally, what gives me the greatest joy is that I have been able to contribute to the team’s cause,” said the Delhi left-hander. “If I had to pick one special knock, it would have to be my ten and a half-hour hundred in the Napier Test which helped us draw the match and win our first Test series in New Zealand since 1976.”
For the first time since the awards were introduced, Simon Taufel wasn’t named the Umpire of the Year, that honour going to Pakistani Aleem Dar on an evening of fun, nostalgia and plenty of emotion.
The list of awardees (performances from Aug 2008 to Aug 2009): Emerging Player of the Year: Peter Siddle (Australia, 49 wickets in 12 Tests @ 28.93).
Spirit of Cricket of the Year: New Zealand.
Associate Player of the Year: William Porterfield (Ireland).
T20 International Performance of the Year: Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka, 96 n.o. in 57 balls vs West Indies at World T20).
Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar (Pakistan).
ODI Player of the Year: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India, 967 runs in 24 matches @ 60.43, 18 catches and eight stumpings).
Test Player of the Year: Gautam Gambhir (India, 1269 runs in eight matches @ 84.60).
Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Claire Taylor (England, 565 runs in 18 ODIs @ 70.62, 230 runs in six T20s @ 115).
Cricketer of the Year: Mitchell Johnson (Australia, 632 runs @ 30.09 and 80 wickets in 17 Tests, 28 wickets @24.25 in 16 ODIs).
Hall of Fame inductees: Herbert Sutcliffe (Eng), Victor Trumper (Aus), Clarrie Grimmett (Aus), Steve Waugh (Aus), Wasim Akram (Pak).
ODI Team of the Year: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Yuvraj Singh, Martin Guptill, Andrew Flintoff, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, Umar Gul. 12th man: Thilan Thushara.
Test Team of the Year: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Andrew Strauss, AB de Villiers, Sachin Tendulkar, Thilan Samaraweera, Michael Clarke, Shakib al Hasan, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Broad, Dale Steyn. 12th man: Harbhajan Singh.