ICC Awards 2015: Steve Smith, AB de Villiers bags top awards : Australia captain Steve Smith had a remarkable day as he bagged top honours at the ICC Awards 2015. He was named ICC Cricketer of the Year as well as the ICC Test Cricketer for the year 2015.
With this he became 11th Australian cricketer to win Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, the highest honour in cricket. The 26-year-old ended as the leading run scorer in the one year selection period in Tests with 1734 runs in 13 matches. Scored 1249 ODI runs at an average of 60.
Steve Smith: “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. To be the best team that we can be, we have to become better at winning away from home, and that remains our motivation heading into 2016.
I’d like to thank my teammates and my family for their support over the year. I’d also like to thank the voting panel for this recognition, which is very humbling.” Meanwhile the superman from South Africa, AB de Villiers was entitled with ICC ODI Cricketer of the year.
He won the award for the second consecutive year. The South Africa’s ODI skipper is now the only cricketer to win this award thrice (2010, 2014, 2015). He scored 1265 runs in 20 innings at an average of 79. AB 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. “If I was to look back, the century I scored against the West Indies at the Wanderers will probably go down as the most memorable knocks of the year. In saying that, centuries count for nothing if the team isn’t winning, so hopefully in the future I can contribute to many more Proteas wins.” His teammate and T20I skipper, Faf du Plessis has won the ICC T20I Performance of the year award for the innings of 119 off 56 against West Indies in January.
Full List of ICC Awards 2015:
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) for his innings of 119 off 56 balls, 2nd T20I vs West Indies at 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
