England strike it rich

BIG MATCH IS TIEDThe contest for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy ended in a tie, with Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis netting 86 points ea...

BIG MATCH IS TIED

The contest for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy ended in a tie, with Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis netting 86 points each and being named joint players of the year.

8226; In 15 Tests, Kallis scored 1,497 runs at an average of 71.28, took 20 wickets and held 16 catches

8226; Flintoff averaged 30 with the bat in Tests and 38 in ODIs. He also took 44 wickets in Tests and 25 in ODIs

ASHES TO GOLD DUST

No surprises in the Spirit of Cricket Award, which went to England, the most successful team of the past few months. And they did that, said ICC president Ehsan Mani, 8216;8216;by upholding the traditional values of the game8217;8217;.

TAUFEL STANDS APART

Simon Taufel picked up the award for the Umpire of the Year for the second year running. Taufel 34 was the clear winner ahead of Aleem Dar and Rudi Koertzen. As Mani said, he made decisions in pressure situations all over the world and 8216;8216;got most of those decisions right8217;8217;.

THE TEAMS

The ICC also announced its World ODI and Test Teams of the Year, as chosen by a specially-appointed selection panel chaired by Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar

KALLIS TOPS THE TEST

Story continues below this ad

Jacques Kallis was a runaway winner for Test player of the year, polling almost three times as many votes as the runner-up, Glenn McGrath. A worthy winner, as ICC chief Malcolm Speed said

KP DOES THE DOUBLE

Kevin Pietersen capped an incredible year by winning the awards for ODI and emerging player. For the first, he beat teammate Andrew Flintoff; for the second, the nominees included India8217;s Dinesh Kaarthick with South Africa8217;s A B De Villiers runner-up. 8216;8216;I8217;m flattered. I honestly didn8217;t think I was going to get this award8217;8217;, he said.

ICC Test Team of the Year

Virender Sehwag, Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting capt, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Andrew Flintoff, Adam Gilchrist wk, Shane Warne, Chaminda Vaas, Glenn McGrath. 12th man: Anil Kumble

ICC ODI Team of the Year

Marvan Atapattu capt, Adam Gilchrist, Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Symonds, Daniel Vettori, Brett Lee, Naved-ul-Hasan, Glenn McGrath. 12th man: Jacques Kallis