England’s James Anderson, South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Australia’s Michael Clarke are in line for top honors at this year’s International Cricket Council (ICC) awards, the game’s governing body said yesterday.
The trio were short-listed for cricketer of the year and Test player of the year in the nominations for various awards announced by the ICC in Mumbai.
Others nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year were England captain Alastair Cook, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka.
In the category of Test player of the year, the other nominees were South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn and the India duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara.
The short-lists in 10 award categories were drawn up by an independent 32-person panel comprising former players and representatives from the media, match referees and umpires.
Cricketers receiving the highest number of votes from the panel will be judged the winners, who will be announced on a TV show to be broadcast on Dec. 14.
The awards are based on performances over a 12-month period that ended on Aug. 25 and included the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, the Champions Trophy in England and the women’s World Cup in India.
The ICC also announced Dhoni as the winner of the People’s Choice award, which is chosen by online votes from fans. He beat other nominees Clarke, Cook, India’s Virat Kohli and South Africa’s A.B. de Villiers.
Dhoni is the third player to bag the award after the recently-retired Sachin Tendulkar won it in 2010 and Sangakkara won the vote in 2011 and last year.
Dhoni was named captain of the ICC’s one-day team of the year, while Cook was chosen as captain for the Test team of the year.
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