By Fakir Hassen, IANS
Johannesburg : Australian captain Ricky Ponting scooped the top honours at the annual International Cricket Council (ICC) Awards here.
Barely hours after arriving in South Africa for the inaugural ICC Twenty20 Championship that kicks off here on Tuesday, Ponting Monday scored a double win – first as Captain of the Year, beating Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene and then knocking out Shivnarine Chanderpaul of West Indies, Kevin Pietersen of England and Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan to take the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy as Cricketer of the Year.
Ponting was also named captain of both the ICC World Test Team of the Year and the World ODI Team of the Year.
“It’s more of an eventful night than I thought it would be and I am honoured,” Ponting said.
“I am the first player to win this award twice in a row and maybe if I keep my head down there might be more around the corner. I was happy with the way I have gone about things during the past year and I think we have lifted ourselves to a new level as a team,” he said.
Ponting beat off strong competition from last year’s winner Mahela Jayawardene who had been nominated again this year. He received the award from former West Indies captain Brian Lara.
The glittering awards evening also saw India’s Jhulan Goswami beat Lisa Sthalekar of Australia and Clare Taylor of England to clinch the Women’s Cricketer of the Year Award. With no other Indian cricketer from the men’s squad nominated in any category, Twenty20 captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the only other Indian to make it to the stage to hand over the award to a very proud Goswami.
Accepting the award, Goswami said: “It’s a dream come true for me. I am very excited to win this award. It is very unexpected because the other candidates are great players. It is very special for me.”
The 24-year-old from Bengal has averaged 12.40 runs in Test matches and 21.80 in ODIs. Her phenomenal accuracy with the ball is illustrated by her economy rate of 2.10 in Tests and 3.17 in ODIs.
Subcontinental pride was further boosted when Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan was named the Test Player of the Year.
Both Yousuf and Goswami said their wins would prove to be huge morale boosters in their respective countries.
Said Goswami: “This award does a lot for women’s cricket. I think women’s cricket is growing, slowly. We are getting more and more coverage now in the media and that can only be a good thing for the game as it encourages more girls to take up the game and improves the overall levels of performance.”
“This is the first time for a Pakistan player to win this award so I am particularly delighted with that,” Yousuf said.
The evening started off with awards for Emerging Player of the Year (Shaun Tait of Australia); Associate ODI Player of the Year (Thomas Odoyo of Kenya); and Umpire of the Year (Simon Taufel). The ODI Player of the Year was Mathew Hayden (Australia).
Here is the full list of award winners:
Emerging Player of the Year: Shaun Tait (Aus)
Associate ODI Player of the Year: Thomas Odoyo (Kenya)
Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Jhulan Goswami (India)
Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel
Spirit of Cricket Award: Sri Lanka
Captain of the Year: Ricky Ponting
ODI Player of the Year: Mathew Hayden (Aus)
Test Player of the Year: Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan)
Cricketer of the Year (winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy): Ricky Ponting
The World ODI Team of the Year (in batting order): Matthew Hayden (Aus), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Jacques Kallis (SA), Mark Boucher (SA, wicketkeeper), Chaminda Vaas (SL), Shane Bond (NZ), Muttiah Muralidaran (SL), Glenn McGrath (Aus). 12th man: Michael Hussey (Aus)
The World Test Team of the Year (in batting order): Matthew Hayden (Aus), Michael Vaughan (Eng), Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain), Mohammad Yousuf (Pak), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Michael Hussey (Aus), Kumar Sangakkara (SL, wicketkeeper), Stuart Clark (Aus), Makhaya Ntini (SA), Mohammad Asif (Pak), Muttiah Muralidaran (SL). 12th man: Zaheer Khan (India)