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Joe Root bags top three England cricket awards

Joe Root during the award ceremony

Joe Root bagged a hat-trick of awards as he was named England's Test player of the year, limited-overs player of the year and Fan's player of the year at the team's annual awards dinner ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka.

Root, who has been in an outstanding form in the last 12 months, said that his performance is far from perfect and that he has to work more and better. “I’m extremely proud. You can’t win these personal awards without great people – and great team players – around you.

“It surprised me to reach that target. I know my cricket can develop so much more. There are so many areas I have to keep working on and keep improving. I don’t think you’re ever happy as a batter: there as always more runs you can get and more tweaks you can make to improve. There’s plenty on the horizon for me to work at,” said the right-handed batsman.

Root had won the England player of the year award in 2015, before it was split into limited-overs and Test awards, which are voted for by the cricket media in the country. The Yorkshireman played a key role in England's win over Australia in The Ashes, their Test series win against South Africa as well as in the World T20 earlier this year.

The 25-year old posted 2,228 in 2015, which is the most by an English batsman in a calendar year. He has been in contention with Australia's Steven Smith and New Zealand's Kane Williamson for the top spot in the ICC Test rankings. Smith currently leads the table and Root stands second, trailing by 36 points.  

Also read: Statistical comparison of Joe Root and Kane Williamson

However, Root felt that reaching the top of the rankings  is not the goal. "The rankings look after themselves. If you're playing well for England - and scoring runs for England - it takes care of itself. It's not really a target.

"When it comes to Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, I try and look and learn from them all the time. They are the best in the world and I know I can learn from what they do and how they go about things," he said.

Medium pacer Anya Shrubsole bagged the England women's cricketer of the year and Callum Flynn was named the best cricketer with a disability. David Lloyd was given the ECB's special achievement award, for his 50-year stint as a player, umpire, commentator and coach.

England will look to regain their number one spot in the ICC Test rankings as they take on Sri Lanka and Pakistan this summer. The first Test against the former is set to begin on May 19 at Headingley. 

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