On January 15, 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the list of ICC award winners for the year 2019 to recognise and honor the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months.
Indian opener Rohit Gurunath Sharma became ODI (One Day International) Cricketer of the Year for the first time. At the same time, Virat Kohli bagged Spirit of Cricket award.
Key Points:
i.Rohit became just the 3rd Indian to win this prestigious award after MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
ii.England’s World Cup winning all-rounder Ben Stokes won the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the Cricketer of the Year, While Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins became the best Test cricketer of the year, taking 59 wickets in 2019.
iii.The women’s awards were announced on 17 December 2019, with Indian women’s cricket player Smriti Mandana named in both ICC women’s ODI and T20 (twenty twenty) teams of the year.
The awards in brief are as follows:
ICC Men’s Test Team & Men’s ODI Team of the Year 2019:
ICC Test Team of the Year 2019: Virat Kohli (Indian cricket team Captain) , Mayank Agarwal (India) ,Tom Latham (New Zealand) , BJ Watling (wicketkeeper, NZ) , Neil Wagner (New Zealand) ,Ben Stokes(England) , Steve Smith (Australia), Marnus Labuschagne (Australia), Mitchell Starc (Australia) . Pat Cummins (Australia) , Nathan Lyon (Australia)
ICC ODI Team of the Year 2019 : Virat Kohli (Captain, 4th consecutive year), Rohit Sharma (India), Mohammed Shami (India) ,Kuldeep Yadav (India) ,Mitchell Starc (Australia) , Kane Williamson (New Zealand) ,Trent Boult (New Zealand), Jos Buttler (England, wicketkeeper 2nd time in a row) , Ben Stokes (England) , Babar Azam (Pakistan) , Shai Hope (West Indies Cricket Board).
List of winners:
[su_table]
| S.No | Award | Winner | Country |
| 1 | ODI Player of the Year | Rohit Sharma | India |
| 2 | Test Cricketer of the Year | Pat Cummins | Australia |
| 3 | Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Cricketer of the Year | Ben Stokes | England |
| 4 | Twenty20I Performance of the Year | Deepak Chahar | India |
| 5 | Emerging Player of the Year | Marnus Labuschagne | Australia |
| 6 | ICC ODI Captain of the Year | Virat Kohli | India |
| 7 | Â ICC Test Captain of the Year | Virat Kohli | India |
| 8 | Â Associate Player of the Year | Kyle Coetzer | Scotland |
| 9 | Â Spirit of Cricket | Virat Kohli (He has been awarded for urging fans not to boo Steve Smith and let him play during ICC World Cup 2019) | India |
| 10 | Â David Shepherd Trophy for Umpire of the Year | Richard Illingworth | England |
| 11 | Â Fan’s Moment of the Year | To be decided |
[/su_table]
ICC Awards:
The awards were given by ICC since 2004. 2019 ICC Awards were the 16th edition of ICC Awards. Between 2011 and 2014 the awards were known, for sponsorship reasons, as the LG ICC Awards.
About International Cricket Council (ICC):
Founded– 15 June 1909.
Headquarters– Dubai, United Arab Emirates(UAE).
Chairperson– Shashank Manohar.
Chief Executive Officer(CEO)- Manu Sawhney.
