Exciting West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine added to his steadily growing list of achievements when he was voted the Emerging Cricketer-of-the-Year at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Awards recently held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
He was one of the two West Indies players to win awards as top women’s batsman Stafaine Taylor also walked away with the Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year Trophy.
The 24-year-old Trinidadian, who has taken the Twenty20 version of the game by storm since his international debut last year, beat out competition from Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal, Doug Bracewell of New Zealand and Australia’s James Pattison. During the eligibility period, Narine picked up 12 wickets in three Tests at an average of 31.50 and 28 wickets at an average of 18.82 from 15 ODIs.
Narine is the second West Indies player in as many years to win the award after Guyanese leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo last year.
Taylor was awarded for her prolific scoring over the last year.
The right-hander, ranked the number two batsman in the world, plundered 514 runs at an average of 46.72 in 13 ODIs during the eligibility period and picked up 16 wickets at an average of 13.12 with her off-spin.
Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkar won the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the ICC Cricketer-of-the-Year, to clinch the top honor at the Awards ceremony. The left-hander was named ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award and was also awarded the People’s Choice trophy.
AP Photo/Tom Hevezi
