Virat Kohli was named the Men’s One-Day International Cricketer of the Year in the announcement of the annual awards by the International Cricket Council on Thursday.
This is the fourth time that Kohli has been awarded the title of the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year and it caps off an incredible year for him in the format.
Second only behind his compatriot Shubman Gill in the run-scorers list with 1377 runs, Kohli scored six centuries and eight half-centuries in a season that also included him becoming the first batter to score 50 ODI centuries.
He also won the Player of the Tournament in the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup, where India finished as runners-up to six-time champions Australia.
This is the seventh individual ICC Award won by Kohli during his career, and his fourth in the ODI category after previous wins in 2012, 2017 and 2018.
He also won the Test award in 2018 while the years 2017 and 2018 saw him also win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.
Cummins, Brunt awarded for consistency
Pat Cummins, the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup-winning captain of Australia, and England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt were named the Men’s and Women’s Cricketers of the Year.
The Australian captain led his team to two titles in both Tests and ODIs – beating India in the ICC World Test Championship in England and Men’s ODI World Cup in India.
This is also the first time Cummins has won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, following Ricky Ponting (2006 and 2007), Mitchell Johnson (2009 and 2014), Michael Clarke (2013) and Steve Smith (2015).
Cummins grabbed 42 wickets in 11 Tests during the year at an average of 27.50 with a best match haul of 10 for 47 in the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan.
In ODIs, he grabbed 17 wickets in 13 matches at an economy rate of 5.74. His best figures of three for 51 against South Africa in the World Cup semi-final was followed by a crucial spell of two for 34 against India in the final in Ahmedabad.
For Brunt, this was the second time she has won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, with only Ellyse Perry (2017 and 2019) and Smriti Mandhana (2021 and 2018) having won twice in the past.
The England all-rounder scored 137 runs in two Tests, 393 runs in six ODIs at an average of 131 and 364 runs in 10 T20Is at a strike rate of 135.82. She also contributed with the ball, taking wickets in all three formats.
Usman Khwaja, Cummins’ teammate, was named the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year while Sri Lanka captain and all-rounder Chamari Athapaththu was named the Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year.
Khawaja was the only player to score over 1,000 Test runs in 2023, scoring 1,210 runs at an average of 52.60 and registering three centuries during the 12-month period. The Australian opener was up against India’s R Ashwin, England’s Joe Root and his compatriot Travis Head in the shortlist.
Not only did Athapaththu win her first ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award, but she was also named both the ICC Women’s ODI and Twenty20 International Teams of the Year.
The all-rounder scored 415 runs in eight matches during 2023, at an average of 69.16 and a strike-rate of 125.37. Her unbeaten knocks of 108 and 140 helped Sri Lanka win the ICC Women’s Championship series against New Zealand 2-1 in Galle in June and July.
Umpire Richard Illingworth from England was named the ICC Umpire of the Year while the Zimbabwe men’s team were given the ICC Spirit of Cricket award.
Winners in the ICC Awards were determined from votes cast by an independent panel of prominent media representatives - the ICC Voting Academy - and hundreds of thousands of global cricket fans, who had been voting for their top performers in 2023 since early January.
(With inputs from ICC Media Zone)
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