ICC Awards

West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul has become the fifth player to be named as the 2008 ICC Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai. Chanderpaul, who also made the shortlist last year, fought off competition from other nominees Mahela Jayawardene from Sri Lanka, as well as South Africa's Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn to take the top award.

South Africa pace bowler Dale Steyn has won the Test Player of the Year award while India's one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the ODI Player of the Year award.

India's flamboyant batsman Yuvraj Singh became the inaugural winner of the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year Award in recognition of his amazing six sixes in one over during the ICC World Twenty20 2007 in South Africa.

Sri Lanka's 23-year-old spin sensation, Ajantha Mendis, won the Emerging Player of the Year award. With his mesmerising brand of spin bowling, Mendis has exploded on to the international scene in recent months. In just three Tests against India in July and August, he claimed an amazing 26 wickets at an average of 18.38, rendering some of the best batsmen in the world strokeless.

Six countries were represented in the 12-man ICC Test Team of the Year and three players - Kevin Pietersen of England and the Sri Lanka pair of Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan - also appeared in the World Test Team of the Year in 2007. Indeed, Sangakkara and Muralitharan also appeared in the 2006 side as well. Smith was named as captain of the team.

There were also six countries represented in the ICC ODI Team of the Year of which only two - Ricky Ponting of Australia and India's Sachin Tendulkar - also appeared in the 2007 side and only one - Brett Lee - made both XIs. Ponting was included in 2006 as well while Andrew Symonds was previously been named in the 2005 team. Ponting is named as captain of the team for the second year running.

The Australian umpire, Simon Taufel, was named as Umpire of the Year for the fifth successive time. Taufel, 37, received his votes from the captains of the ten Full Member nations, as well as the eight-man elite panel of ICC match referees. "I'm delighted to win this award but I don't set this as a goal at the start of a season," he said.

England captain Charlotte Edwards, who last night steered her side to a 4-0 one-day win over India, won the Women's Cricketer of the Year award.

The Netherlands allrounder, Ryan ten Doeschate, was named as the Associate Player of the Year.

The Sri Lanka team were the recipients of the Spirit of Cricket Award for the second year running. The prize is presented to the team which, in the opinion of the elite panel of ICC umpires and match referees, has best conducted itself on the field within the spirit of the game.

"The past year has been another exciting one for cricket fans around the world in a time that included the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 and plenty of competitive Test and ODI cricket," David Morgan, the ICC president, said. "These players have contributed hugely to our enjoyment. This is the fifth annual ICC Awards night and each year it is gaining in prestige."

ICC Test Team of the Year Graeme Smith (SA, capt), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Mahela Jayawardena (SL), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Jacques Kallis (SA), Kumar Sangakkara (SL, wk), Brett Lee (Aus), Ryan Sidebottom (Eng), Dale Steyn (SA), Muttiah Muralitharan (SL). 12th man: Stuart Clark (Aus).

ICC ODI Team of the Year Hershelle Gibbs (SA), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Ricky Ponting (Aus, capt), Younis Khan (Pak), Andrew Symonds (Aus), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind, wk), Farveez Maharoof (SL), Daniel Vettori (NZ), Brett Lee (Aus), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Nathan Bracken (Aus). 12th man: Salman Butt (Pak)

Source: Cricinfo

Dhoni remains at top, Vettori topples Bracken

DUBAI: MS Dhoni hung on to his place atop the ODI batting chart but Australian Nathan Bracken surrendered top slot in bowlers' rankings to Daniel Vettori after his relatively disappointing series against Bangladesh.

In three ODIs, 30-year-old Bracken took just two wickets at an average of 29 which allowed New Zealand captain Vettori topple the Australian.

Vettori had surged to the top of bowling chart back in February before Bracken swapped places with the left-arm spinner following the second ODI between England and New Zealand in June.

Bracken's team-mate Mitchell Johnson has also slipped one place to fourth but fellow pacer Stuart Clark has jumped four rungs after picking up five wickets at an average of 9.20. He shares 15th spot with the West Indies' Daren Powell and Pakistan's Iftikhar Anjum, according to an ICC release on Sunday.

Shane Watson has returned to the top-50 after rocketing 14 places to share 40th place with India's Praveen Kumar.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak has strengthened his status as Bangladesh's premier bowler by climbing seven places to 27th position while Saqibul Hasan has also jumped seven places to 39th spot.

However, fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza has failed to defend his 36th position and has dropped to 42nd spot after a wicket-less series.

In the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen, Australia's stand-in captain Michael Clarke has dropped one place to 15th after scoring 40 runs at an average of 13.33.

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has risen 10 places to 35th position but captain Mohammad Ashraful has slipped three places to 59th.

Dhoni leads Australians Mike Hussey in the batting chart while England's Andrew Flintoff heads the all-rounders' category.

At eighth, Sachin Tendulkar is the only other batsman in the top-10.

At 14th, Zaheer Khan is the highest ranked Indian bowler. In the ICC ODI Championship, Australia's 3-0 victory has earned it one ratings point. In contrast, Bangladesh has dropped to 45 ratings points.

Maha Ganapathi Mool Mantra