7 players who have won more than two ICC awards
Since their inception in 2004, the ICC awards have been the most prestigious award ceremony in international cricket. With the voting period spanning almost a year, the awards are given to those players who perform remarkably well throughout the voting window. As of now, the judging period is sandwiched between Septembers of successive years.
The number of categories across which the awards are given away has undergone changes over the years and now stands at thirteen, with "ICC Fan's Moment" being the latest addition. While the ICC selection committee is in charge of selecting the final nominees for every category, the ultimate winner is decided only by the votes of a specially selected academy that includes former international cricketers, umpires, and referees among others.
The ICC Awards have, over the years, honoured some of the biggest names in international cricket. But not many players have had the distinction of being the recipients of ICC awards, let alone those who have won it twice or more. In fourteen editions of the awards so far, only seven players have managed to win the awards more than twice (excluding the People's Choice Awards).
If a competitive spirit gets a player through to an ICC award, it's only his sustained efforts that can win him the award more than once. While the players in the slideshow make the ICC awards look easy to bag, those not in it do so much as to suggest that receiving honours at the ICC Awards multiple times is more difficult than most things in cricket.
Without much ado, let's quickly gaze through these seven players who exemplified consistency and competitive spirit over their respective award-winning years.
#7 Mitchell Johnson
ICC Cricketer of the Year (2009) - During the voting period, Johnson made an impact in Tests like no other bowler did. He played 17 matches in that period and reigned supreme with 80 wickets to his name at an economy of mere 3.12. His contribution to the side was not limited to his bowling as he managed to score 632 runs with the bat, including a century and three half-centuries, for his team at an average of 30.1 during the voting period.
There was very stiff competition for him since the list of nominees also included MS Dhoni (ODI Player of the Year) and Gautam Gambhir (Test Player of the Year). It was perhaps his extra effort with the bat that saw him through.
Cricketer of the Year & Test Player of the Year (2014) - The voting period spanned a little over a year, from August 26, 2013, to September 17, 2014. During the period Johnson played eight Tests in which he managed to scalp 59 wickets at 15.23.
As far as his ODI performance was concerned, he took 21 wickets in the 16 matches that he played during that period. His winning the awards was an icing on Australia's whitewash of England in the Ashes. He managed to sail past AB de Villiers, Kumar Sangakkara, Angelo Mathews and Warner to bag the two awards