Dale Steyn Test Player of Year
2008-09-10 22:55
Dubai - South Africa pace bowler Dale Steyn has won the Test Player of the Year award at the LG ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai on Wednesday night.
Steyn beat off short-list competition from Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena and Proteas team-mate Jacques Kallis to win the first ICC Award of his career.
During the 12-month voting period, Steyn put in some remarkable performances, taking 86 wickets at an average of just 18.10 in the 14 Test matches he played. No other bowler took more than 58 wickets in the same period and he was the only bowler to earn an average less than 21.50 (of those who played more than three matches).
The 25-year-old from Phalaborwa in the northern province of Limpopo also had the best strike-rate with a wicket every 31.9 deliveries and he boasted two 10-wicket matches and six five-wicket innings.
After collecting his award from former West Indies captain and current chair of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd, Steyn said: "I have had a pretty decent year I suppose but I didn't think about winning this award until the past few days. I don't really know how I feel. Perhaps tomorrow morning it will have sunk in for me because obviously this is a huge award and it's massive for me.
"What I would like to do is maybe turn it into a goal for the future. I would like to win this award again and maybe other awards too so it would be something to aim for.
"I am really enjoying my cricket at the moment - we have been involved in a few great series recently so I count myself as lucky to be a part of this South Africa team.
"It's a good time for South African cricket even though we lost four one-day matches in England. Winning this award makes up a little for that but I am still going home knowing we were beaten in the one-dayers.
"But we have some new faces coming into the one-day side and we are still very positive for the future."
Individual and team winners
Cricketer of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WIS)
Test Player of the Year: Dale Steyn (WIS)
ODI Player of the Year: Mahendra Singh Doni (IND)
Emerging Player of the Year: Ajantha Mendis (SRI)
T20 international performance of the year: Yuvraj Singh (IND)
Associate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate (NED)
Women's Cricketer of the Year: Charlotte Edwards (ENG)
Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel (AUS)
Spirit of Cricket Award: Sri Lanka
ICC Test Team of the Year:
Graeme Smith (RSA, capt), Virender Sehwag (IND), Mahela Jayawardene (SRI), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WIS), Kevin Pietersen (ENG), Jacques Kallis (RSA), Kumar Sangakkara (SRI, wkt), Brett Lee (AUS), Ryan Sidebottom (ENG), Dale Steyn (RSA), Muttiah Muralitharan (SRI). 12th man: Stuart Clark (AUS)
ICC ODI Team of the Year:
Herschelle Gibbs (RSA), Sachin Tendulkar (IND), Ricky Ponting (AUS, capt), Younis Khan (PAK), Andrew Symonds (AUS), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (IND, wkt), Farveez Maharoof (SRI), Daniel Vettori (NZL), Brett Lee (AUS), Mitchell Johnson (AUS), Nathan Bracken (AUS). 12th man: Salman Butt (PAK)
- SAPA