Mitchell Johnson claims top ICC awards

November 14, 2014

Mitchell JohnsonNov 14: Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has won the top ICC awards for 2013-14, being named the Cricketer of the Year, as well as Test Cricketer of the Year.

South Africa's AB de Villiers was named ODI Cricketer of the Year, while Australia's Aaron Finch won the T20 performance award for his 156 off 63 against England at the Rose Bowl in August.

England's Gary Ballance was named Emerging Cricketer of the Year, while Sarah Taylor was named the Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year and Meg Lanning, the Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year.

Scotland's Preston Mommsen got the Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year award, and umpire Richard Kettleborough was named Umpire of the Year.

India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar had previously been declared the winner of the People's Choice award. England's Katherine Brunt won the Spirit of Cricket award, for asking for a referral when a South Africa batsmen was adjudged out caught - the decision was eventually reversed.

Responding to the ICC's announcement, Johnson said his success as a fast bowler came down to his "attitude". "Aggressive fast bowlers are something you'd have seen back in the day with the likes of [Dennis] Lillee and [Jeff] Thomson.

For me, it's nice to be able to contribute to the team and do the job that I've always thought I've been able to do. I suppose it comes down to the attitude I've got, the belief and the confidence," he said. "I'm very happy with where I am at the moment and I want to keep getting better as a cricketer.

"This [the awards] is something that I'll be able to look back on in time when my career is over and be exceptionally proud of."

The winners were picked based on their performance between August 26, 2013, and September 17, 2014. In that period, Johnson took 59 wickets in eight Tests at 15.23 and 21 wickets in 16 ODIs at 33.04. Meanwhile, de Villiers had scored 963 runs in ODIs at 60.18 with four centuries.

Ballance, meanwhile, made his debut in January at Sydney at the tail-end of England's woeful Ashes campaign and went on to establish himself as the team's new No. 3 during the home season where he scored 704 runs at 70.04 in seven Tests against Sri Lanka and India.

Awards list

ICC Cricketer of the Year - Mitchell Johnson

Test Cricketer of the Year - Mitchell Johnson

Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year - Sarah Taylor

ODI Cricketer of the Year - AB de Villiers

Emerging Cricketer of the Year - Gary Ballance

Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year - Preston Mommsen

T20 International Performance of the Year - Aaron Finch

T20I Women's Cricketer of the Year - Meg Lanning

Spirit of Cricket Award - Katherine Brunt

Umpire of the Year - Richard Kettleborough

LG People's Choice - Bhuvneshwar Kumar

ICC Test Team of the Year

David Warner, Kane Williamson, Kumar Sangakkara, AB de Villiers (wk), Joe Root, Angelo Mathews (capt), Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Broad, Dale Steyn, Rangana Herath, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor (12th man)

ICC ODI Team of the Year

Mohammad Hafeez, Quinton de Kock, Virat Kohli, George Bailey, AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Dwayne Bravo, James Faulkner, Dale Steyn, Mohammed Shami, Ajantha Mendis, Rohit Sharma (12th man)

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Chennai, Mar 15: Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni has left the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) training camp following the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) amidst the coronavirus scare.

The former India skipper had joined the CSK's camp earlier this month in order to practice for the upcoming IPL season.

CSK's official handle tweeted a video of Dhoni and captioned the post as: "It has become your home sir!" Keep whistling, as #Thala Dhoni bids a short adieu to #AnbuDen".

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the tournament.

Earlier this year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

BCCI had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

On Friday, BCCI decided to postpone the IPL until April 15 as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, all the IPL franchises met in Mumbai to discuss as to how to go on with the tournament in the future.

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News Network
May 14,2020

New Delhi, May 14: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an unconventional and unique leader, whose biggest strength is his incredible gut feeling, says his Chennai Super Kings teammate Faf du Plessis.

The former South Africa skipper has spent considerable time with Dhoni after joining the Indian Premier League (IPL) side in 2011 and has been an integral part of its successful journey.

"He reads the others player really well and he uses that to make instinctive decisions on the field. He's got an incredible gut feeling on the game and I think that's his biggest strength," du Plessis said in a Facebook live session with Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal.

The 35-year-old said Dhoni changed his perception of how a captain should be.

"It was amazing for me to see how different M S was as a captain. I used to think a captain must speak all the time in team meetings etc but M S was completely different.

"He doesn't believe a lot in team meetings. He's a very instinctive captain he's got such a good cricket brain that he relies on it to make the right decisions on the field," du Plessis said of former India skipper.

Dhoni last played for India in World Cup semifinal last year and was expected to be back to playing competitive cricket at now-postponed IPL.

Calling Dhoni the best finisher he has played with, Du Plessis said no one can emulate what the dasher from Ranchi can do with the bat.

"He's extremely calm. I haven't played with someone who is a better finisher than him. It's just remarkable to watch him from the side of the field."

"If someone else tries to do it like him they won't be able to. He's just so unique like he times the ball so late he's got an incredible calmness. He knows his game and he picks a bowler and goes for it."

Du Plessis said that playing for CSK alongside Dhoni and under the guidance head coach Stephen Fleming has taught him a lot about leadership.

"I'm lucky to have started my journey there at CSK because I have really learned a lot from a leadership point of view. I tried to learn as much as possible from Dhoni and Stephen Fleming because both are great captains."

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