Steve Smith has become the fourth Australia player and 11th player overall to win the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy after being named as the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2015.
Smith follows in the footsteps of Ponting (2006 and 2007), Mitchell Johnson (2009 and 2014) and Michael Clarke (2013) to lift the coveted trophy since the inception of the awards in 2004.
Other recipients of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy include Rahul Dravid (2004), Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis (joint-winners in 2005), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2008), Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Jonathan Trott (2011) and Kumar Sangakkara (2012).
The top-order batsman was also adjudged the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, which has made him only the seventh cricketer after Dravid (2004), Kallis (2005), Ponting (2006), Sangakkara (2012), Clarke (2013) and Johnson (2014) to bag the two coveted prizes in the same year.
During the voting period, which ran from 18 September 2014 to 13 September 2015, the 26-year-old from New South Wales finished as the leading run-scorer in Tests with 1,734 runs in 25 innings of 13 matches at an average of 82.57. This included seven centuries and six half-centuries. In 26 One-Day Internationals, Smith scored 1,249 runs at an average of just under 60 with four centuries and eight half-centuries. He was a member of the Australia side which won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.
Reacting to the news, a delighted Smith said: “Given that there are so many great players around the world, I’m incredibly honoured to receive these awards. While team success is always my number-one motivation, awards like this are very special. I’m thrilled and very proud to receive them. I will look back on 2015 with mixed feelings. Winning the ICC Cricket World Cup at home was a career highlight, and being appointed captain is a great honour, but the disappointment of losing the Ashes remains.”
South Africa’s ODI captain AB de Villiers has been named as the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for the second successive year. He had also won this award in 2010. In the voting period, de Villiers scored 1,265 runs in 20 innings at an average of just over 79 and a strike-rate of 128.4. He hit two centuries and nine half-centuries. Earlier this month, de Villiers was named as the captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Year.
A delighted de Villiers said: “It is an honour to be named as the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for 2015. It’s certainly been a memorable year with many highlights but a lot of disappointments as well.
De Villiers’ team-mate and South Africa’s T20I captain Faf du Plessis has won the ICC T20I Performance of the Year award for his 56-ball 119 against the West Indies in the second T20I in Johannesburg on 11 January 2015. Du Plessis had clubbed 11 fours and five sixes in his swashbuckling innings.
Australia women’s captain Meg Lanning has been named as the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, while West Indies women’s captain Stafanie Taylor has won her maiden ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year award.
Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has won the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year award. Hazlewood, who played alongside Steve Smith in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2008 and won the same event two years later in New Zealand, took 40 wickets in nine Tests in the voting period at an average of 21.75 with his best figures being five for 38 against the West Indies at Sabina Park. In the 10 ODIs in the same period, he took 16 wickets with five for 31 against South Africa in Perth as his best figures.
Hazlewood was also a member of the Australia side which won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. The last Australia player to win the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year award was Peter Siddle (2009), while Shaun Tait won in 2007.
Former United Arab Emirates captain Khurram Khan has been named as the ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year after he finished as the leading run-scorer with 425 runs in nine one-day matches. This award serves to recognise and reward the efforts in all international matches of the outstanding cricketers from the teams outside the 10 Test nations.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for inspiring his side to play the game in its true spirit. This was clearly evident throughout the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, and in particular in the semi-final where McCullum showed humility and exemplary sportsmanship by inviting de Villiers and his side to the New Zealand’s dressing room after a closely-fought match.
Richard Kettleborough of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires has won his third successive David Shepherd Trophy for the ICC Umpire of the Year. He is the third umpire to a complete a hat-trick of titles after Simon Taufel (2004 to 2008) and Aleem Dar (2009-2011).
The player awards were judged by a voting academy, which was entirely independent of the ICC. The voting period ran from 18 September 2014 to 13 September 2015:
The full list of ICC Award 2015 winners is:
ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) – Steve Smith (Australia)
ICC Test Cricketer of the Year – Steve Smith (Australia)
ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year – AB de Villiers (South Africa)
ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year – Meg Lanning (Australia)
ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year – Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
ICC T20I Performance of the Year – Faf du Plessis (South Africa) (119, 56 balls, 11×4, 5×6 – 2nd T20I vs West Indies, 11 January 2015, Johannesburg)
ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year – Josh Hazlewood (Australia)
ICC Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year – Khurram Khan (UAE)
ICC Spirit of Cricket Award – Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
ICC Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy) – Richard Kettleborough
