Ravichandran Ashwin is ICC player of year, Alastair Cook captains team of 2016 - BBC Sport
Close menu

Ravichandran Ashwin is ICC player of year, Alastair Cook captains team of 2016

Last updated on .From the section Cricketcomments184

Ravichandran Ashwin becomes the third Indian to be named ICC world player of the year
Ravichandran Ashwin is the third Indian to be named ICC world player of the year

India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been named the International Cricket Council's world player of the year.

The 30-year-old is the third Indian to win the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy and is also ICC Test cricketer of the year.

Alastair Cook was named captain of the ICC Test team of 2016. The voting period closed in September, before England's Test series defeat in India.

Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes also feature but India's Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith missed out.

Ashwin took 48 wickets and scored 336 runs in eight Tests, as well as 27 wickets in 19 T20 internationals.

"It feels great to follow Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in being ICC Cricketer of the Year," said Ashwin.

Ashwin dedicated the award to his family and believes India "had a great transition" and "fell on the right track" since Kohli took over as captain following MS Dhoni's retirement in 2014.

ICC chief executive David Richardson said Ashwin "is justifiably now being counted among the best spinners of his generation".

Ashwin, who made his Test debut in 2011, now has 248 wickets from 44 Tests, and also averages 34.92 with the bat.

He joins Jacques Kallis (2005), Ricky Ponting (2006), Kumar Sangakkara (2012), Michael Clarke (2013), Mitchell Johnson (2014) and Smith (2015) by winning both the ICC world player and Test cricketer awards in the same year.

The ICC's voting period covers play from 14 September 2015 to 20 September 2016.

Brathwaite's four sixes win award

The ICC's other 2016 award winners are:

  • South Africa's wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock - ODI Cricketer of the Year
  • Carlos Brathwaite of the West Indies - T20I Performance of the Year award for his match-winning 34 off 10 balls in the ICC World Twenty20 final against England in Kolkata
Carlos Brathwaite
Brathwaite's last-over heroics - hitting four consecutive sixes - saw West Indies beat England in the World Twenty20 final
  • Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman - ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year
  • Afghanistan's wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad - ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year

Who's in the team of the year?

England skipper Cook was named as captain for the ICC's Test team of the year after guiding his side to an away win over South Africa and defeating Sri Lanka and drawing with Pakistan at home during the voting period.

The 31-year-old's role for England is under scrutiny after he said he would "go home and do some thinking" after the 4-0 Test series defeat by India that followed the historic Test loss in Bangladesh in the first part of the winter programme.

Smith is named only as 12th man while Kohli does not appear at all, with New Zealand's Kane Williamson, Root and Adam Voges of Australia filling the middle-order berths.

The Australia and India captains are currently ranked first and second respectively in the ICC's own Test batting ranking.

ICC Test Team of the Year includes: David Warner (Australia), Alastair Cook (England) (captain), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Joe Root (England), Adam Voges (Australia), Jonny Bairstow (England) (wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes (England), R. Ashwin (India), Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Steve Smith (Australia)
There are four Englishmen in the ICC Test Team of the Year

AB De Villiers - who has stepped down as South Africa captain while he recovers from injury - has been selected in the ODI team for the sixth time since 2010.

De Villiers and ODI player of the year De Kock are joined by compatriot Kagiso Rabada in the side while Jos Buttler is the only Englishman to feature.

David Warner (Australia), Quinton de Kock (South Africa) (wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma (India), Virat Kohli (India) (captain), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Jos Buttler (England), Mitchell Marsh (Australia), Ravindra Jadeja (India), Mitchell Starc (Australia), Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), Sunil Narine (West Indies), Imran Tahir (South Africa)
Mitchell Starc and his Australia team-mate David Warner are the only two players to be selected in both the Test and ODI sides in 2016

Comments

Join the conversation

These comments are now closed.

184 comments

  • Comment posted by Gazza47, at 10:38 22 Dec 2016

    @vox The article does say the voting was done in September well before the two recent test series. Which begs the question how long does it take to count votes...or why do they not leave the vote till December?

  • Comment posted by AngusMcT, at 10:41 22 Dec 2016

    5) that's not how it works at all. The award just runs september to september. England's failings in india and bangladesh will be reflected in next years... you get the same skew in the equivalent rewards for football.

  • Comment posted by User0719479252, at 11:41 22 Dec 2016

    To all the numptees slagging off Cook, read the period for which voting applies - Sept to Sept. Get off the bloke's back - he has been a top class international batsmen for a decade and a decent captain. A captain needs a top class set of players around him and Cook hasn't had this. As an Englishman I get exasperated at how we like to drag our sportsmen down despite them having done little wrong.

  • Comment posted by Vox Populi, at 10:25 22 Dec 2016

    Quite amusing and ironic, considering the criticism Cook has received for the Bangladesh and India tours recently. Short memories.

  • Comment posted by Take me Tats Mum, at 10:42 22 Dec 2016

    Because us Brits are predominantly a "Beat em up" and "Knock em down" nation, the fact this was to end Sept will be lost on them.
    But there lies the problem, too many non-test match cricket fans read the headlines and media rubbish.
    Before people comment, if you do not know, check.
    England have issues, but its not all Cook.
    So, who was better in that period?
    Best use google, you wont know.

  • Comment posted by Ayupgeeza, at 10:35 22 Dec 2016

    @ 1. Vox Populi

    As the article makes clear, the voting took place in September, before England's tours of Bangladesh and India. Hence not short memories, just a ludicrous voting system that means that nothing in the last third of the year can be taken into account.

    Wake up ICC - we have this thing called the internet which is really useful for this sort of thing...

  • Comment posted by User0852500925, at 11:23 22 Dec 2016

    Good old Captain Cook, we would never have found Australia without him

  • Comment posted by User0719479252, at 13:15 22 Dec 2016

    61. I think you will find that Eng has lost series 5-0 before now so this isn't their worst defeat. As for Kohli - decent captain, but perhaps no better than Cook. Ask Kohli to skipper Eng and ask yourself if he would have done any better. Finally, can everybody please read the article properly. The vote doesn't take account of Ind / Bang series. Give me strength!!!!!

  • Comment posted by User0927410547, at 11:29 22 Dec 2016

    19HowStupidDoYouThinkIAm
    _____

    You didn't put a ? at the end of your username, but I'll answer your question anyway

    I think you're very stupid

    The BBC is NOT perfect and it can always improve, but it IS the most balanced news outlet there is, ask journalists
    As for the serial bankrupt and liar known as Trump, believing this greedy right-wing loon about ANYTHING shows your gullibility

  • Comment posted by JDH, at 12:16 22 Dec 2016

    Why are people complaining about this. The players are chosen for the team because of their averages over the period Sept to Sept...VK's average was 45 while good was not up there with the best! Yes he is a great player particularly at home. Hopefully he can reproduce that when he next tours England...but not too much!

  • Comment posted by corpachbay, at 11:24 22 Dec 2016

    @5 Ayupgeeza - "we have this thing called the internet which is really useful for this sort of thing... "

    Looking at this, and every other HYS on the BBC or elsewhere, thankfully we don't have to rely on the internet for this sort of thing. Open comments are predominantly mean, nasty, spiteful, and display an overwhelming ignorance in the majority. Watch the arrows

  • Comment posted by Dr_John - not a Doctor of medicine, at 12:34 22 Dec 2016

    @61, not as unbelievable as the fact that somebody would register their outrage without bothering to read the article. It clearly states that voting closed in September, and I guess people didn't have a crystal ball.
    Besides it is hardly fair to blame Cook for the stupidity and lack of guts shown by batsman trying to hit the ball out of the ground when trying to save a test match.

  • Comment posted by JDH, at 17:07 22 Dec 2016

    107. Gordon Pembury, I think Sky do a very good job on the cricket coverage, properly in depth and light years ahead of what BBC could afford to present. I do think that some cricket should be on terrestrial TV though as it's lack of exposure to young kids is definitely harming the sport...that is not Sky that is the cricket governing body.

  • Comment posted by Bontchos Overhead, at 19:20 22 Dec 2016

    Can anyone tell me one specific thing Cook done wrong in India? We lost simply because India are brilliant at home and we don't do spin. Let's not forget that it was under cook that we won in India for the first time in years. Root may make a good captain but that doesn't mean cook is a bad one

  • Comment posted by Username here, at 11:29 22 Dec 2016

    29. Posted by Aussie in Yorks
    lose 8 matches as Captain in 2016 and end up with Captain of the year, you just could not write this script must be 1st April. No doubt the Cook supporters will be delighted with this choice. Really surprised he was not included as Captain of the 1 day team as well No doubt he has kept his job for another 12 months

    Did you even bother reading the voting criteria?

  • Comment posted by JDH, at 15:19 22 Dec 2016

    78. enanjay - So what you are saying is that 10 openers who were clearly not up to test standard and failed consistently is down to Cook? You also have no idea what is going on behind the scenes for all you know Cook is a stand up guy who treats his player equally...none of us know so why comment? Can only be speculation unless you know someone in the inner circle, something I doubt very much.

  • Comment posted by redbid71, at 18:56 22 Dec 2016

    #131 robin sorry robin that's rubbish mate, every so called cricket pundit agreed with cooks declaration on that day. if we had lost after declaring Early cook would have been lambasted for it

  • Comment posted by sedna, at 11:40 22 Dec 2016

    The argument as to whether or not Cook is or is not the 'best' cricket captain is not really that relevant as regards how good is the England team. We have a number of talented players but our batsmen have lost the skill at digging in and putting up the shutters to bat a day and a half for not many runs & without being bowled out when it is otherwise not possible to win the match. Not Cook's fault

  • Comment posted by Rene Artois, at 20:05 22 Dec 2016

    Root is acgood player, but he is being over-talked. His conversion rate is pretty poor- 11/27 (100s/50s). Just for comparison Cook 30/53, Williamson 13/24, Smith 16/19, Kohli 15/19, Younis Khan 33/32, Amla 25/31, De Villiers 21/39, I could go on. The point is that the other top players of the era are simply doing better than him. He's playing nice innings, but not match winning innings for England

  • Comment posted by User0578188543, at 12:50 22 Dec 2016

    If selection was on basis of the duration between Sept to Sept then probably these 11 players have made more runs than any other... if it is true than no point of argument ...

    Smith & Kohli will be in for next year team....

Featured

Elsewhere on the BBC