By IANS,
Dubai : West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul led the list of winners of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Awards 2008, winning the coveted Sir Gary Sobers Cricketer of the Year award.
The 34-year-old Guyanese left-hander had an outstanding year with the bat, becoming one of the world’s most consistent and determined players.
Chanderpaul was joined on the winners’ list by India’s one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who took the ODI Player of the Year award, and South Africa’s Dale Steyn, who was named Test Player of the Year.
The awards were presented at a glittering ceremony in a posh five-star hotel here besides the Arabian Gulf Wednesday night.
Though he was not present to collect the award, Chanderpaul said in a televised message: “I am honoured to be given this prestigious award tonight and I am very thankful to god for blessing me with the talent that I have. I would like to thank my family – in particular my wife Amy – for their constant support over the years.”
Chanderpaul follows on the footsteps of India’s Rahul Dravid (2004), Andrew Flintoff of England and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (joint winners in 2005) and Ricky Ponting of Australia (2006 and 2007) to take the top award.
The West Indian had an excellent run during the voting period for the award.
He played eight Tests, scoring 819 runs at an average of 91.00, including three centuries and six fifties, all of which were against the top seven teams in the world.
He also played 13 one-dayers during that time, finishing top of the averages with 74.75 having scored 598 runs, a haul that included a century and five fifties.
He is currently No.1 in the ICC rankings for Test batsmen and sixth in the rankings for ODI batsmen.
Lauding Chanderpaul’s achievement, ICC president David Morgan said: “Shivnarine has been a rock in the West Indies batting line-up for many years and he thoroughly deserves this award. His contribution to the game has been immense and he epitomises the sort of dedication, bravery and skill required to excel at the highest level.”
The Test Player of the Year award went to South Africa’s Dale Steyn who had an amazing year with the ball.
During the 12-month voting period, Steyn took 86 wickets at an average of just 18.10 in the course of 14 Test matches.
The first bowler to win this award, he took more than 58 wickets in the same period and was the only bowler to earn an average less than 21.50 (for those who played more than three matches).
The 25-year-old also had the best strike-rate with a wicket every 31.9 deliveries and he boasted two 10-wicket matches and six five-wicket innings.
Receiving the award from former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd, Steyn said: “I have had a pretty decent year I suppose but I didn’t think about winning this award until the past few days… Perhaps tomorrow morning it will have sunk in for me because obviously this is a huge award and it’s massive for me.”
He added that he would turn this award into a goal in the future.
“What I would like to do is maybe turn it into a goal for the future. I would like to win this award again and maybe other awards too so it would be something to aim for.”