ICC Awards: Clarke takes top honours; Pujara is emerging cricketer

Michael Clarke was named ICC Cricketer of the Year on Friday, the Australia captain also bagging the Test Player of the Year award after a stellar season with the bat.

"I was very surprised, to be honest, I think probably because there are so many guys who are playing so well around the world at the moment," Clarke told Cricket Australia website.

The announcement was made ahead of the broadcast of the LG ICC Awards 2013 TV show.

The full list of winners is:

ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) – Michael Clarke (Australia)

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year – Michael Clarke (Australia)

ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year – Suzie Bates (New Zealand)         

ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year – Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)

ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year – Cheteshwar Pujara (India)

ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year – Kevin O’Brien (Ireland)

ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year – Umar Gul (Pakistan)

ICC T20I Women’s Cricketer of the Year – Sarah Taylor (England)

ICC Spirit of Cricket Award – Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka)

ICC Umpire of the Year (winning the David Shepherd Trophy) – Richard Kettleborough

LG People’s Choice – MS Dhoni

"I'd swap it for the team to have success, that's for sure," said Clarke, who has led from the front as Australia inched closer to regaining the urn by racing to a 2-0 lead in the ongoing return Ashes series.

Clarke amassed 1559 runs in the voting period, averaging 70-plus with the help of five hundreds, two being double centuries.

The 32-year-old right-hand batsman said he wanted to get even better to establish himself among the greats of the game.

"It's an honour to have won this award this year, but if I want to become a great player, I need to make sure I'm scoring runs and helping this team win games for a few more years to come yet."

ICC Test Team of the Year is as follows (in batting order):

Alastair Cook (Eng - Captain)

Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind)

Hashim Amla (SA)

Michael Clarke (Aus)

Michael Hussey (Aus)

AB de Villiers (SA)

MS Dhoni (Ind – wicketkeeper)

Graeme Swann (Eng)

Dale Steyn (SA)

James Anderson (Eng)

Vernon Philander (SA)

12th Man – Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind)

ICC ODI Team of the Year is as follows (in batting order):

Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL)

Shikhar Dhawan (Ind)

Hashim Amla (SA)

Kumar Sangakkara (SL)

AB de Villiers (SA)

MS Dhoni (Ind, wicketkeeper/captain)

Ravindra Jadeja (Ind)

Saeed Ajmal (Pak)

Mitchell Starc (Aus)

James Anderson (Eng)

Lasith Malinga (SL)

12th Man – Mitchell McClenaghan (NZ)

Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara, who won both the honours last year, was named ODI Cricketer Of the Year.

Promising Indian top order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara was named ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year.

Also joining Pujara on the winners list for the first time are New Zealand captain Suzie Bates, who won the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year award; Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul, whose five for six against South Africa won him the ICC T20I Performance of the Year award; Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien, who won the Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year award.

England’s Sarah Taylor clinched the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year award for the second straight time.

Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena won his second ICC Spirit of Cricket award, this time for walking without waiting for an umpire’s decision when batting on 91 against New Zealand in Galle in November 2012.

In total there are 11 individual awards, as well as the two ICC Teams of the Year – for Tests and ODIs.