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Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy: Ben Stokes wins ICC Player of the Year

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Stokes wins Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has won the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Player of the Year after a fabulous 12 months that saw him play a decisive role in England’s dramatic victory at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 along with a host of other memorable performances.
Stokes

Cummins and Rohit named Test and ODI players of the year, respectively; Labuschagne, Chahar and Coetzer among other award winners

Kohli wins ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 gesture supporting Smith, also named captain of Test and ODI sides

Richard Illingworth wins David Shepherd Trophy for Umpire of the Year

Stokes, who kept his nerve to smash an unbeaten 84 in the final against New Zealand, aggregated 719 runs and bagged 12 wickets in 20 ODIs during the voting period. He also scored 821 runs and took 22 wickets in 11 Tests, the highlight being an unbeaten 135 to win a nail-biting Ashes thriller in Leeds.

Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins has been named the Test Player of the Year and India opener Rohit Sharma the ODI Player of the Year in other major men’s ICC awards announced on Wednesday. India seamer Deepak Chahar won T20I Performance of the Year, Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne has been named as Emerging Cricketer of the Year, whilst Scotland’s Kyle Coetzer is the Associate Cricketer of the Year.

India captain Virat Kohli, who had swept the Player of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year last year, has won the Spirit of Cricket Award. He won the award for his gesture at the World Cup, when he egged the crowd on to support Steve Smith rather than boo him soon after his return to international cricket from a one-year suspension for changing the condition of the ball. Kohli has also been named captain of both the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year.

Meanwhile, England umpire Richard Illingworth has become the seventh person to win the David Shepherd Trophy for Umpire of the Year. This is the first time that the 56-year-old has won the award named after the late umpire from England.

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney congratulated the winners of the awards this year and wished them all the best for the future.

Manu Sawhney: “On behalf of the ICC, I would like to congratulate all of the individual 2019 award winners as well as those players named in the ICC Teams of the Year.

“The awards celebrate the world’s best cricketers and this has undoubtedly been an extraordinary year for men’s cricket. The highlight of course was the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 that ended in such dramatic fashion. Ben Stokes was, of course in the midst of all the action during the event from that quite incredible catch at the Oval right through to that epic final at Lord’s and is a very deserving winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.”

The 28-year-old Stokes was elated at winning the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy but remembered to credit his team and support staff.

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 achieved our objective of lifting a major trophy.

“There is an incredible bond between teammates and to savour our achievements, whether that’s winning the World Cup Final at Lord’s or digging deep to win a Test match against Australia at Headingley. It is satisfying you can accomplish these superb highs together.

“The last 12 months have been the best in my career, and I believe what we attained will be the catalyst to achieve further success over the next few years.”

Pat Cummins, who grabbed 59 wickets in 12 Test matches during the period and finished the year as the top-ranked bowler in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings, won the award staving off stiff competition including from compatriots Smith and Labuschagne.

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 really 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 looked forward to carrying his form in the coming year, after an aggregate of 1409 runs from 28 matches with seven hundreds earned him the award for ODIs.

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 recognised in this fashion. We are very happy 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.”

Chahar said his haul of six for seven against Bangladesh in Nagpur, which included a hat-trick, would always be cherished by him.

Deepak Chahar: “I am very happy to receive this award. I would like to thank the ICC for this award and to the BCCI for giving me a chance to represent my country. That performance was very special for me. I got an opportunity to play for India after a long time. Taking six wickets conceding only seven runs was a dream performance for me and will always remain close to my heart.”

Labuschagne was an easy winner of the Emerging Player award after scoring 1,104 runs in 11 Tests, which saw him zoom in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings from 110 at the start of the year to fourth by the end of the year.

Marnus Labuschagne: “It’s been exciting, it has been a great journey and I am very humbled with this award. It has been a great summer but the challenge is when you have a summer like that is to make sure you are backing it up and keep doing it. Being part of such a great team has been amazing, I have been very fortunate to be able to play in what is a great time for Australian cricket.”

India captain Virat Kohli was surprised to win the Spirit of Cricket Award and explained his reasons for backing Smith the way he did.

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 camaraderie that sportsmen 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 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.

“Also, that should not be a representation of our fans and what we stand as a cricketing nation, a sporting nation. We need to all take responsibility towards that. Intimidate the opposition, definitely try and have an upper hand but in a matter that is not targeting someone emotionally. That is not acceptable at any level and people should be wary of that.”

Coetzer was surprised at winning the award in spite of leading the Associate batsmen in ODIs with 880 runs in 18 matches and also aggregating 702 runs in 22 T20Is.

Kyle Coetzer: “It is a huge honour to have won the award. It was a huge shock, I certainly did not expect it, which makes it even more special. A big shout out needs to go to everyone who supported me throughout in 2019 – my family, my friends, all Cricket Scotland supporters who have come out through thick and thin, usually in some poor weather to be honest, everyone in the Cricket Scotland office as well as the backroom staff. A very special mention needs to go out to the players who support me on the field every day.”

Illingworth thanked all of those who supported him over the years and was happy to join his predecessors already on the list.

Richard Illingworth: “It’s an honour and a privilege to be named umpire of the year. To join the prestigious list of previous recipients of the award is very humbling.

“Although umpiring can be seen to be quite individual, there’s a huge amount done as a collective .I’d like to thank all my fellow match officials, the ICC and the ECB offices who have been great sounding boards and inspirations over the years. Also, thank you to my coach Denis Burns who helps me a huge amount and puts a great perspective on tough days.

“My family have been a tremendous support over the years and I’m delighted to share this award with them.

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

Both teams and the annual men’s individual awards sides have been selected by a voting academy, which took into consideration player performances throughout the 2019 calendar year.

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); Vinode Mamchan, Stephon Nicholas, Ian Bishop (WI); Peter Della Penna, Peter Borren, Lisa Sthalekar (Others)
 
Lovely to hear Stokes talk all about the team and not himself.

Nice to see Richard Illingworth (also a WC finalist) honoured as best ump.
 
Stokes is the Sobers of his generation. The best all-rounder of his time by a massive margin.
 
Kuldeep Yadav ahead of Imran Tahir is not right

Ishant Shrama or Shami deserved to be in test team
 
Stokes is the Sobers of his generation. The best all-rounder of his time by a massive margin.

Stokes is more in the Botham mould. Sobers was an ATG bat stokes is just world class bat of his generation
 
Stokes is more in the Botham mould. Sobers was an ATG bat stokes is just world class bat of his generation

I compared them because they are both left-handed batsmen and the best all-rounders of their era by a country mile.

The quality of cricket is higher today than it was in the 1950s and 1960s. An average of 36 today is comparable to an average of 57 at that time.

Cricket became a proper sport once Lillee and Thompson emerged in 1971-72, the first two real fast bowlers.

It raised the bar and by the end of 1970s, the game saw a significant jump in the quality of batsmen and bowlers. The likes of Clive Lloyd had to quickly adapt as well, because the game transformed completely in a short period of time.

If Sobers played in the 1980s, his batting wouldn’t have been better than Botham’s, who was the best batsman among the big four all-rounders of the time.
 
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I compared them because they are both left-handed batsmen and the best all-rounders of their era by a country mile.

The quality of cricket is higher today than it was in the 1950s and 1960s. An average of 36 today is comparable to an average of 57 at that time.

Cricket became a proper sport once Lillee and Thompson emerged in 1971-72, the first two real fast bowlers.

It raised the bar and by the end of 1970s, the game saw a significant jump in the quality of batsmen and bowlers. The likes of Clive Lloyd had to quickly adapt as well, because the game transformed completely in a short period of time.

If Sobers played in the 1980s, his batting wouldn’t have been better than Botham’s, who was the best batsman among the big four all-rounders of the time.

Tell that to Colin Cowdrey after Wes Hall broke his arm in 1966. Or to Oldfield after Larwood fractured his skull in 1932.

It’s interesting to note that Sobers was the best batter of his era, and Botham at his peak was averaging upper thirties while Richards averaged 55, and I don’t think Richards was better than Sobers. So this comparison between Sobers and Botham is wrong.
 
Stokes is easily the player of this generation. Too many great moments that even some of the ATGs die craving for. Genuine great, massive respect and most well deserved.
 
All (or atleast most) the awards well deserved. I remember here in PP, quite a few people quoted Labu doesnt qualify for emerging player award??

He got the award and it is deserving of course but does he qualifies or not and what exactly is the qualification?
 
All (or atleast most) the awards well deserved. I remember here in PP, quite a few people quoted Labu doesnt qualify for emerging player award??

He got the award and it is deserving of course but does he qualifies or not and what exactly is the qualification?

Criteria: Must be under the age of 26 and played a maximum of 5 Tests, 10 ODIs and 5 T20Is prior to the performance period.
 
Tell that to Colin Cowdrey after Wes Hall broke his arm in 1966. Or to Oldfield after Larwood fractured his skull in 1932.

It’s interesting to note that Sobers was the best batter of his era, and Botham at his peak was averaging upper thirties while Richards averaged 55, and I don’t think Richards was better than Sobers. So this comparison between Sobers and Botham is wrong.

You don’t need to be express to fracture a skull or break an arm. Even a 70 mph delivery can do the damage if it hits the wrong spot at the wrong angle.

I think it is quite demeaning to say that Viv was inferior to Sobers when the former batted against superior bowlers.
 
You don’t need to be express to fracture a skull or break an arm. Even a 70 mph delivery can do the damage if it hits the wrong spot at the wrong angle.

I think it is quite demeaning to say that Viv was inferior to Sobers when the former batted against superior bowlers.

Faheem Ashraf is a better allrounder than Stokes. Hopefully in 2020, Ashraf can be given more chances in tests to prove himself.
 
Kohli wins ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 gesture supporting Smith, also named captain of Test and ODI sides

India captain Virat Kohli, who had swept the Player of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year last year, has won the Spirit of Cricket Award. He won the award for his gesture at the World Cup, when he egged the crowd on to support Steve Smith rather than boo him soon after his return to international cricket from a one-year suspension for changing the condition of the ball. Kohli has also been named captain of both the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year.

India captain Virat Kohli was surprised to win the Spirit of Cricket Award and explained his reasons for backing Smith the way he did.

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 camaraderie that sportsmen 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 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.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Great words from great player</p>— Mohammad Amir (@iamamirofficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/iamamirofficial/status/1217417511181774849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Criteria: Must be under the age of 26 and played a maximum of 5 Tests, 10 ODIs and 5 T20Is prior to the performance period.

Okay,so he qualifies. I think there might be confusion on age whether it should be under 26 or 25.
 
Stokes may not be anywhere close to Botham but he is certainly an ATG in my book and the next best cricketer to have come from England since Sir Ian Terence Botham.
 
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You don’t need to be express to fracture a skull or break an arm. Even a 70 mph delivery can do the damage if it hits the wrong spot at the wrong angle.

I think it is quite demeaning to say that Viv was inferior to Sobers when the former batted against superior bowlers.

Did I write that, or did you assume I wrote it?

No, it's praise of Richards to liken him to Sobers, who faced Lindwall, Miller, Davidson, Benaud, Lillee, Fazal, Chandra, Venkat, Bedi, Trueman, Statham, Laker, Lock, Wardle, Snow and Willis. These guys were as good as those Richards faced. Indeed, Sobers and Richards faced some of the same bowlers.

They guy would take 6/21 with FM swingers against England, score 180 off Snow and Underwood, and then bowl England out again with leg spin.
 
But he lost Ashes which matters more. Steve Smith should have got it for going from a pure emotional mess in tears or destroying England in England. One of the best improvements ever.
 
I compared them because they are both left-handed batsmen and the best all-rounders of their era by a country mile.

The quality of cricket is higher today than it was in the 1950s and 1960s. An average of 36 today is comparable to an average of 57 at that time.

Cricket became a proper sport once Lillee and Thompson emerged in 1971-72, the first two real fast bowlers.

It raised the bar and by the end of 1970s, the game saw a significant jump in the quality of batsmen and bowlers. The likes of Clive Lloyd had to quickly adapt as well, because the game transformed completely in a short period of time.

If Sobers played in the 1980s, his batting wouldn’t have been better than Botham’s, who was the best batsman among the big four all-rounders of the time.

It is interesting to note the innings viewed by some as the best ever by a foreign batsman at the time was 254 by Sobers in the early 70s against an attack compromising of Lillee and others.
 
Ben Stokes as world player of the year, can’t really argue with that!
 
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