England skipper Alastair Cook was named captain of the ICC Test team of 2016 as the voting period closed in September – before his side’s Test series defeats.
India’s spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been named the International Cricket Council’s world player of the year.He also wins ICC Test cricketer of the year award.
In 2016, Ashwin took 48 wickets and scored 336 runs in eight Tests, as well as 27 wickets in 19 T-20 internationals.
Ashwin dedicated the award to his family and said that India had a great transition and fell on the right track since Kohli took over as captain following Mahendra Singh 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.
The ICC’s other 2016 award winners are:
South Africa’s wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock – ODI Cricketer of the Year.
Pakistan skipper Misbah ul Haq — ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for taking his team from 4th position to No.1 position in ICC Test Rankings in October this 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.
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 Test 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 as a captain of 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 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.
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.
