Zimbabwe cricket team skipper Brendan Taylor and opening batsman Tino Mawoyo were yesterday rewarded for their sterling performances in national colours last season after being nominated for two different awards for the prestigious annual LG ICC cricket awards in Dubai.
Taylor was nominated for the ICC Men’s one-day international (ODI) Cricketer of the Year award while Mawoyo was also shortlisted for the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year award.
The awards ceremony will take place just before the start of the ICC World Twenty20 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on September 15.
Taylor was undoubtedly the national team’s most consistent player in all formats from between August 4 2011 and August 6 2012 (the period under review).
Zimbabwe hosted three teams – Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand – with encouraging results and the stand-out player in those series was Taylor, who took over the captaincy in June last year. Taylor, who averaged 49,53 in 17 ODIs in 2011, scored two hundreds in three Tests this year and also became the first Zimbabwean to score back-to-back ODI centuries against New Zealand in September.
Taylor’s performances earned him contracts which saw him featuring in New Zealand’s HRV Cup, the inaugural Bangladesh Premier League and the upcoming Sri Lankan Premier League.
On the other hand, Mawoyo, who is widely regarded as one of the most technically sound batsmen in the country, scored 314 runs in four Test matches at an average of 44,85 during the period considered for voting.
The 25-year-old from Mutare won praise for his near 11-hour stint at the crease during his 163 not out in the lone Test against Pakistan, albeit in a losing cause.
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“I’m really surprised and honoured at the same time that I have been nominated for such as big award. It’s such a nice feeling when all the efforts that you would have put in are recognised at such a big stage. Even if I don’t go on to win the award, just the fact that I was nominated for the award is a special feeling,” said Mawoyo in an interview with NewsDay Sport yesterday.
The shortlist for the awards was nominated by an elite panel of cricket experts headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, along with Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu, England’s Clare Connor, West Indies Carl Hooper and Australia’s Tom Moody.
Selection was based on criteria set out by the sponsors LG and the ICC. David Richardson (ICC chief executive) said: “This is the third year of the LG People’s Choice Award and it is proving to be hugely popular among fans across the globe and continues to highlight how much voting for their cricketing heroes means.
“This year sees the two past winners nominated again alongside three other extremely deserving candidates. I’m sure the public will choose wisely as to who will be the 2012 winner of this prestigious award at the LG ICC Awards 2012.”
LG ICC Awards nominations
ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Trent Boult (NZ), Doug Bracewell (NZ), Dinesh Chandimal (SL), Pat Cummins (Aus), Nasir Hossain (Bang), Junaid Khan (Pak), Nathan Lyon (Aus), Tino Mawoyo (Zim), Sunil Narine (WI), James Pattinson (Aus), Lahiru Thirimanne (SL), Matthew Wade (Aus)
ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year: Shahid Afridi (Pak), Saeed Ajmal (Pak), Michael Clarke (Aus), Alastair Cook (Eng), MS Dhoni (Ind), Steven Finn (Eng), Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Shakib Al Hasan (Bang), Virat Kohli (Ind), Lasith Malinga (SL), Brendon McCullum (NZ), Morne Morkel (SA), Sunil Narine (WI), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Brendan Taylor (Zim), Shane Watson (Aus)
