/ 2 September 2009

Smith, De Villiers up for ICC awards

Proteas captain Graeme Smith and stand-out batsman AB de Villiers have both been nominated in two categories for the ICC LG awards ceremony to be held in Johannesburg next month.

They have been nominated in the two top categories of Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year. Dale Steyn, last year’s winner, has again been nominated in the Test Cricketer of the Year category.

There are no South African nominations in either the ODI Cricketer of the Year or the Emerging Cricketer of the Year sections.

Wayne Parnell has received a nomination for the Twenty20 Performance of the Year after taking four wickets against the West Indies in the ICC World T20 at The Oval in London in June.

The nominations were compiled by a five-man panel chaired by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd with performances during the period from Aug. 13, 2008 to Aug. 24 this year taken into consideration, the ICC said.

Awards will also be handed out to the emerging player, women’s cricketer and umpire of the year, and will be presented in Johannesburg on October 1.

The test and ODI teams of the year will also be selected and an award to the team that has adhered most to the spirit of cricket will also be presented. –Sapa, Reuters