Dhoni named for game's highest Garfield Sobers Trophy

Mumbai, Dec 3 (IANS) Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the only Indian in the running for cricket’s highest Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year.

Dhoni along with Hashim Amla (South Africa), James Anderson (England), Michael Clarke (Australia), Alastair Cook (England) and Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) was named Tuesday in the short-list for nominees for the prestigious award.

This and other awards will be announced in a TV show that will be broadcast Dec 14.

Dhoni also features among the nominees for the ODI Player of the Year along with compatriots Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja.

India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and batsman Cheteshwar Pujara are in running for the ICC Test Player of the Year award.

Anderson, Amla and Michael Clarke are the three cricketers who have been short-listed for both the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year.

The LG ICC Awards shortlists announced by ICC chief executive David Richardson see 12 countries represented across the categories for the top individual prizes in international cricket.

The Twenty20 International (T20I) Performance of the year sees Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis being short-listed alongside Pakistan’s Umar Gul and New Zealanders Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum.

In the short-list for the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, last year’s winner Stafanie Taylor is joined by New Zealand captain Suzie Bates, Australia’s Meg Lanning, South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk and the England pair of Charlotte Edwards and Anya Shrubsole.

Taylor, Bates and Lanning also feature in the short-list for the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year, along with England’s Sarah Taylor and the West Indies’ duo of Shanel Daley and Deandra Dottin.

The long-lists of nominations for each award were put together by a five-person ICC selection panel, before a 32-member voting academy trimmed the nominees to the short-lists.

The ICC selection panel was chaired by former India captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Anil Kumble. The panel also includes former internationals Alec Stewart of England, Catherine Campbell of New Zealand, Waqar Younis of Pakistan and Graeme Pollock of South Africa.

The David Shepherd Trophy for the ICC Umpire of the Year award was voted on by the 10 current Test captains and the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and is partly based on the umpires’ performance statistics.

ICC Awards 2013 nominees

Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla (SA), James Anderson (Eng), Michael Clarke (Aus), Alastair Cook (Eng), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind), Kumar Sangakkara (SL)

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla (SA), James Anderson (Eng), Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind), Michael Clarke (Aus), Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind), Dale Steyn (SA)

ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year: Saeed Ajmal (Pak), Shikhar Dhawan (Ind), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind), Misbah ul-Haq (Pak), Ravindra Jadeja (Ind), Kumar Sangakkara (SL)

ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year: Suzie Bates (NZ), Charlotte Edwards (Eng), Meg Lanning (Aus), Dane van Niekerk (SA), Anya Shrubsole (Eng), Stafanie Taylor (WI)

ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Trent Boult (NZ), Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind), Joe Root (Eng), Mitchell Starc (Aus)

ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year: Kevin O’Brien (Ire), Kyle Coetzer (Scot), Ed Joyce (Ire), Nawroz Mangal (Afg)

ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Umar Gul (Pak) – 2.2-0-6-5 v South Africa, Centurion, March 3, 2013

Martin Guptill (NZ) – 101 n.o. (69b, 9×4, 6×6) v South Africa, East London, December 23, 2012

Brendon McCullum (NZ) – 123 (53b, 11×4, 7×6) v Bangladesh, Pallekele, October 1, 2012

Ajanth Mendis (SL) – 4-2-8-6 v Zimbabwe, Hambantota, September 18, 2012

ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year: Suzie Bates (NZ), Shanel Daley (WI), Deandra Dottin (WI), Meg Lanning (Aus), Sarah Taylor (Eng), Stafanie Taylor (WI)

David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Ian Gould, Tony Hill, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Paul Reiffel, Rodney Tucker

ICC Spirit of Cricket: Mahela Jayawardena (SL) Sri Lanka v New Zealand, first Test, November 2012, Galle, Sri Lanka.

Mahela Jayawardena, batting on 91 with Sri Lanka on 229-7, gloves Jeetan Patel’s delivery and is caught at the wicket by New Zealand wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk and starts walking before the umpire raises his finger. The nomination has come from a member of the New Zealand squad who felt Mahela’s actions were deserving of recommendation for the award as it happened at a very crucial stage of the match and Mahela, whose side was in some bother, walked without even waiting for an umpire’s decision.

Farhad Reza (Bang) Pakistan v Bangladesh, ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012, Group Stage match, 25 September 2012.

Farhad Reza of Bangladesh, in an attempt to catch Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed, touches the boundary. Before the on-field umpires refer the catch to the third umpire, the 26-year-old Bangladeshi signals a six, confirming that his foot had touched the boundary. This was done with minimum fuss.