The ICC Awards have been announced and England’s all-rounder has been declared as the Best Cricketer of the Year 2019 by ICC on Wednesday. Stokes who played a vital role in England’s maiden World Cup win at Lord’s had a sensational year. In the same summer, he played probably one of the most magnificent Ashes innings at Leeds, where his unbeaten 135 won the match for England by the lowest margin (1 wicket) against the arch-rivals Australia.
From India, Rohit Sharma was declared ODI Cricketer of the Year while Virat Kohli bagged the award for Spirit of the Year for stopping the crowd from booing Steve Smith in the World Cup match between India and Australia at the Oval. Kohli has also been named captain of both the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year. The other Indians who were included in the teams are Mayank Agarwal (Tests), Mohammad Shami (ODI), and Kuldeep Yadav (ODI).
Pat Cumming of Australia has received the award for Test Cricketer of the Year for taking 59 wickets in 12 tests in the voting period. The Australian middle-order batting sensation Labuschagne has won the award of Emerging Player award after scoring 1,104 runs in 11 Tests.
Ben Stokes: “It is quite flattering to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year. The past 12 months have been incredible for England cricket, and to lift the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup for the first time was our greatest achievement.
“This award is testament to my teammates and the support staff that have been there every step of the way. Fundamentally, without the support of these individuals, we would never achieve our objective of lifting a major trophy.
Pat Cummins: “It’s a tremendous honour to be considered the best player of last year and one which was certainly unexpected. I owe much to my team, team-mates, and all those involved in Australian cricket for what was a successful year for the team. The highlight was certainly being able to retain the Ashes, which was a great reward for the hard work that went into that tour.”
Rohit Sharma: “I would like to thank the ICC for giving me this award and the BCCI for giving me the opportunity to represent the country. It is great to be recognized in this fashion. We are delighted with the way we performed as a team in 2019. We could have done better, but we have a lot of positives and a lot to look forward to in 2020.”
Virat Kohli: “I’m surprised that I have got it, after many years of being under the scanner for the wrong things. It is part of the camaraderie that sportspeople must have with each other. That moment was purely understanding an individual’s situation. I don’t think a guy who is coming out of a situation like that needs to be taken advantage of. You can sledge, can have banter on the field, you say things to the opposition in wanting to beat them. But booing someone is not in the spirit of any sport, I don’t endorse it.
ICC Men’s Cricket Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Best Cricketer of the Year – Ben Stokes (England)
Test Cricketer of the Year –Pat Cummins (Australia)
ODI Cricketer of the Year –Rohit Sharma (India)
T20I Performance of the Year –Deepak Chahar (India, 6-7 v Bangladesh)
Emerging Cricketer of the Year –Marnus Labuschagne (Australia)
Associate Cricketer of the Year –Kyle Coetzer (Scotland)
Spirit of Cricket Award –Virat Kohli stopping the fans booing Steve Smith at the Oval
David Shepherd Trophy for Umpire of the Year –Richard Illingworth
ICC Test Team of the Year (in batting order): Mayank Agarwal, Tom Latham, Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli (captain), Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Neil Wagner, Nathan Lyon.
ICC ODI Team of the Year (in batting order): Rohit Sharma, Shai Hope, Virat Kohli (captain), Babar Azam, Kane Williamson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav
The 2019 voting academy comprised the following members of the media and broadcasters:
Javed Hamim, Emal Pasarly (Afghanistan); Peter Lalor, Daniel Brettig, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke (Aus); M. Farid Ahmed, Mohammad Isam, Athar Ali Khan (Ban); Lawrence Booth, Julian Guyer, Nasser Hussain, Isa Guha (Eng); Barry Chambers, Ian Callender, Niall O’Brien (Ire); Neeru Bhatia, Gaurav Gupta, Deep Dasgupta, Sanjay Majrekar (Ind); Andrew Alderson, Mark Geenty, Danny Morrison, Ian Smith (NZ); Abdul Mohi Shah, Mazhar Arshad, Bazid Khan, Ramiz Raja (Pak); Lungani Zama, Neil Manthorp, Shaun Pollock (SA); Rex Clementine, Saroj Pathirana, Russel Arnold (SL); Mehluli Sibanda, Tristan Holme, Mpumelelo Mbangwa (Zim); Vinod Mamchan, Stephon Nicholas, Ian Bishop (WI); Peter Della Penna, Peter Borren, Lisa Sthalekar (Others)