Narine, Taylor cop ICC awards

Trinidadian Sunil Narine and Jamaican Stafanie Taylor copped awards at the 2012 International Cricket Council’s awards last Saturday at the Water’s Edge Resort, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.{{more}}

Off-spinner Narine has been named the emerging Player of the Year for 2012 and Taylor, the women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year.

Narine saw off competition from New Zealand’s Doug Bracewell, Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal and Australia’s James Pattinson to take the award.

Narine, in his short stint in international career, has risen to the world’s most promising talents.

During the assessment period, August 4, 2011 to August 6, 2012, Narine snared 12 wickets in two home tests against New Zealand, at a cost of 25.66 per wicket.

In Twenty/20s, he took 7 wickets in five games at 18.28 apiece.

Narine, in the 50-over format, has taken 28 wickets in 15 games at 18.82 each.

He follows West Indies leg spinner Devendra Bishoo as the recipient of the emerging player award.

In achieving her accolade, Taylor, the regional side’s ace, played in 13 ODIs, scoring 514 runs at the top of the order at an average of 46.72, while her off-spin also claimed 16 wickets at an average of 13.12.

En route to her achievement, Taylor saw off fellow West Indian teammate Anisa Mohammed and England’s pair of Lydia Greenway and Sarah Taylor.

But it was Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara who won the ICC Cricketer of the Year award.

The Sri Lankan batsman was also named Test Cricketer of the Year and took the LG People’s Choice award.

The former captain, who is 34 years old, averaged 60 in test matches in the past year, hitting five centuries, and was also commanding in 50-over format.

Previous winners of the Cricketer of the Year award include Rahul Dravid (2004), Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis (joint winners in 2005), Ricky Ponting (2006 and 2007), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2008), Mitchell Johnson (2009), Sachin Tendulkar (2010) and Jonathan Trott (2011).

India’s Virat Kohli was named ODI player of the year and South Africa’s Richard Levi took home the T/20 Performance of the Year award for his innings of 117 not out, off 51 balls against New Zealand, in Auckland in February.

Other awardees were England’s Sarah Taylor, who won the Women’s Twenty/20 Cricketer of the Year award. Meanwhile, George Dockrell, the Ireland left-arm spinner, has been named the ICC Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year.

New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori received the Spirit of Cricket award for his sporting recall of a Zimbabwe batsman during a tense test in Bulawayo.

Sri Lanka’s umpire Kumar Dharmasena took the Umpire of the Year award. (RT)