England allrounder Ben Stokes has won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC player of the year after playing starring roles in the side’s maiden 50-over World Cup triumph and one-wicket win in the Leeds Test during the Ashes in 2019.
In a World Cup final for the ages, Stokes struck an unbeaten 84 off 98 balls to help England tie with New Zealand’s 241. He then made eight off three balls in a Super Over shootout, which also ended in a tie, but England eventually won the title on boundary count. Stokes also produced a similar stellar display in the longest format, his unbeaten 135 off 219 balls helping England secure an improbable chase of 359 from 9 for 286 at Headingley.
Australia quick Pat Cummins and India’s white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma scooped up the other top honours, winning the Test player of the year and ODI player of the year awards respectively. Cummins’ Australia team-mate Marnus Labuschagne, who closed out 2019 as the leading run-getter in Test cricket, was named Emerging player of the year, while Scotland’s Kyle Coetzer was recognised as the Associate player of the year.
Cummins had put in a number of strong performances in Test cricket in 2019, including match-winning five-wicket hauls against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. His hot form was also central to Australia retaining the Ashes away from home in 2019. The 26-year old had gone wicketless in a mere three innings out of 23 Test innings in the past year. In all, Cummins took 59 Test wickets in 2019, 14 more than any other bowler.
Rohit had reeled off 648 runs in nine innings at an average of 81 and strike rate of 98.33 in the World Cup in the UK. Only Sachin Tendulkar (673) and Matthew Hayden (659) have scored more runs than Rohit in a single edition of the World Cup.
Rohit’s India team-mate Deepak Chahar’s 6 for 7 against Bangladesh in the Nagpur T20I, which also included a hat-trick, was chosen as the best T20I performance of the year. Chahar’s figures are also the best ever best ever in men’s T20Is.
England’s Richard Illingworth, meanwhile, won the David Shepherd Trophy for the umpire of the year. India captain Virat Kohli, who had claimed three major awards last year, won the spirit of cricket award for asking fans to cheer for Steven Smith – and not boo him – at the 2019 World Cup, when the Australian was returning from a one-year ban for his role in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. (ESPNCricinfo)
