/ 3 December 2013

Cricket council awards: Hashim Amla nominated for top honours

Cricket Council Awards: Hashim Amla Nominated For Top Honours

Cricketer Hashim Amla, England's James Anderson and Australia's Michael Clarke are nominated for top honours in this year's International Cricket Council awards, it was announced on Tuesday.

The trio will vie for both the cricketer of the year and the Test player of the year categories, according to the short-list released by the ICC in Mumbai.

Others nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year were England captain Alastair Cook, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka.

In the category of Test player of the year, the other nominees were South Africa's Dale Steyn and the Indian duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara.

The short-list in 10 award categories was drawn up by an independent 32-person panel comprising former players and representatives from the media, match referees and umpires.

The awards are based solely on performances over a 12-month period that ended on August 25 2013 and included the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, the Champions Trophy in England and the women's World Cup in India.

Votes from the panel
Cricketers receiving the highest number of votes from the panel will be judged the winners and the results will be announced on a TV show to be broadcast on December 14.

The ICC also announced India's Dhoni as the winner of the People's Choice award voted online by fans, beating other nominees Clarke, Cook, India's Virat Kohli and South Africa's AB de Villiers.

Dhoni is the third player to bag the award after the recently-retired Sachin Tendulkar won it in 2010 and Sangakkara won the vote in 2011 and 2012.

Dhoni was also named captain of the ICC's one-day team of the year, while Cook was chosen to lead the Test team of the year.

Steyn, the South African pace spearhead, made the Test team for the sixth successive year and Dhoni was named in the one-day squad, also for the sixth year in a row.

The two teams were picked by a five-man panel headed by former India captain Anil Kumble and included Waqar Younis of Pakistan, England's Alec Stewart, South African batting legend Graeme Pollock and New Zealand woman cricketer Catherine Campbell.

'Worthy candidates'
"It is always tough to decide on the Test and ODI teams of the year, with so many worthy candidates to consider," Kumble said in an ICC statement.

"But when you have only 12 places to fill from a big group of world-class players, there will always be a few who will miss out. In the panel's expert opinion, it has selected the best Test and ODI teams based on performances over the past 12 months."

All 12 members of the elite panel of umpires were nominated for the umpire of the year award that was won last year by Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka.

Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena and Farhad Reza of Bangladesh were the two nominees for the spirit of cricket award.

Jayawardene was chosen for not waiting for the umpire's decision after edging a catch to the wicket-keeper when he was batting on 91 against New Zealand in a Test match in Galle in November 2012.

Reza was voted in for confirming he had touched the boundary ropes and signalling a six after catching Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed during the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in 2012. – AFP