Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson has bagged the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy after being named the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year, it was announced on Thursday.
The left-arm paceman became the sixth player to win the trophy after India’s Rahul Dravid (2004), England’s Andrew Flintoff and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (joint winners in 2005), Ricky Ponting of Australia (2006 and 2007) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2008) of the West Indies.
“I’m really blown away. I am just surprised to be up here. It has been a great 12 months for our side,” Johnson said. “We have lost some wonderful players in recent years and we have been rebuilding with some young guys in the team and we have played together well. I’m enjoying the game at the moment and that makes all the difference.”
Johnson fought off stiff competition from Indians Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and England captain Andrew Strauss.
Johnson bagged 80 wickets in 17 Tests, the most by any Test bowler in the year.
Opening batsman Gambhir won the Test Player of the Year award, warding off stiff competition from Johnson, Sri Lankan batsman Thilan Samaraweera and Strauss.
“It’s been a dream run for me. I never thought it could be like this but life has changed for me and I am very happy,” said Gambhir, who scored 1,269 runs in eight Tests during the 12-month period. “As a unit we have played very well and I am just glad to contribute to the overall success of the team.”
Dhoni pipped compatriots Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag, and Chanderpaul to bag the One-Day Player of the Year award.
Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award for his unbeaten 96 off 57 balls against the West Indies in the semi-final at the Twenty 20 World Championships in England.
“This is a great feeling for me. I can’t forget that innings. It was so important and I was really happy about my overall performance in that tournament,” Dilshan said.
“It was a thrill for me to do well in England and do well for my team. I’m really proud of myself for having a new shot named after me [the Dilscoop]. That shot has given me confidence,” he said.
Aussie paceman Peter Siddle claimed Emerging Player of the Year award.
“Getting to represent my country is an enormous honour and it has been a great time for me to be part of the team. It’s been very enjoyable,” Siddle said.
New Zealand won the Spirit of Cricket award, presented to the team which, in the opinion of the ICC umpires and match referees and the 10 full member captains, has best conducted itself on the field within the spirit of the game.
Ireland captain William Porterfield won the Associate Player of the Year award while Pakistan’s Aleem Dar was named Umpire of the Year.
England’s Claire Taylor was named the Women’s Cricketer of the Year.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
RSS