South Africa pace bowler Dale Steyn won the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Player of the Year award at the LG ICC awards ceremony in Dubai on Wednesday night.
Steyn beat off short-list competition from Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena and Proteas teammate Jacques Kallis to win the first ICC award of his career.
During the 12-month voting period, Steyn put in some remarkable performances, taking 86 wickets at an average of just 18,10 in the 14 Test matches he played. No other bowler took more than 58 wickets in the same period and he was the only bowler to earn an average less than 21,50 (of those who played more than three matches).
The 25-year-old from Phalaborwa also had the best strike-rate with a wicket every 31,9 deliveries, and he boasted two 10-wicket match hauls and six five-wicket innings hauls.
After collecting his award from former West Indies captain and current chairperson 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. I don’t really know how I feel. Perhaps tomorrow morning [Thursday] it will have sunk in for me because obviously this is a huge award and it’s massive for me.
”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.
”I am really enjoying my cricket at the moment — we have been involved in a few great series recently so I count myself as lucky to be a part of this South Africa team.
”It’s a good time for South African cricket, even though we lost four one-day matches in England. Winning this award makes up a little for that, but I am still going home knowing we were beaten in the one-dayers.
”But we have some new faces coming into the one-day side and we are still very positive for the future.”
Thankful
Meanwhile, Chanderpaul claimed the ICC Player of the Year award on Wednesday.
The Guyanese left-hander claimed the most prestigious cricket prize for 2008 by landing the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy at the annual awards.
Chanderpaul edged out Jayawardene and Steyn for the top accolade.
”I’m honoured to be given this prestigious award and I’m very thankful to God for blessing me with the talent that I have,” he said.
”I would like to thank my family, in particular my wife, Amy, for their constant support over the years.”
He scored 819 runs at an average of 91 in just eight Tests, hitting three hundreds and six fifties, during the voting period, from August 9 2007 to August 12 2008.
India wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the top-ranked one-day batsman who also led the side to the World Twenty20 win last year, was the ODI Player of the Year.
Yuvraj award
His compatriot, Yuvraj Singh, who hit six sixes in one over against England in that tournament, claimed the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award.
Sri Lanka spin sensation Ajantha Mendis claimed the Emerging Player of the Year prize while Australian umpire Simon Taufel was adjudged the best umpire in the game for the fifth year in a row.
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting and his South African counterpart, Graeme Smith, were named captains of the one-day and Test selections respectively.
The awards panel was chaired by former West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd and included Australia’s Greg Chappell, former South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock, ex-Sri Lanka opener Sidath Wettimuny and former Bangladesh batsman Athar Ali Khan.
Awards of the year:
Player of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Test Player: Dale Steyn (South Africa)
ODI Player: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India)
Twenty20 international performance: Yuvraj Singh (India)
Emerging Player: Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)
Associate Player: Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands)
Umpire: Simon Taufel (Australia)
Spirit of Cricket: Sri Lanka
Woman Player of the Year: Charlotte Edwards (England)
ODI Team: Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Ricky Ponting (Australia, captain) Younus Khan (Pakistan), Andrew Symonds (Australia), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India, wicketkeeper), Farveez Maharoof (Sri Lanka), Daniel Vettori (New Zealand), Brett Lee (Australia), Mitchell Johnson (Australia), Nathan Bracken (Australia). 12th man: Salman Butt (Pakistan)
World Test Team: (in batting order): Graeme Smith (South Africa, captain), Virender Sehwag (India), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies), Kevin Pietersen (England), Jacques Kallis (South Africa), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka, wicketkeeper), Brett Lee (Australia), Ryan Sidebottom (England), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka). 12th man: Stuart Clark (Australia) — Sapa, Reuters