Cook and Dhoni named captains of ICC teams of the year

Wednesday, 4 December 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Three Lankans in ODI team of the year, none in Test

Reuters: England captain Alastair Cook has received a welcome boost ahead of this week’s Ashes clash against Australia after he was named skipper of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) test team of the year on Tuesday. The left-handed opener’s England team mates Graeme Swann and James Anderson were also included in the 11-man team while world number one test side South Africa were represented by four players.

South Africa paceman Dale Steyn was included in the test side for the sixth consecutive year, while two players each from Australia and India made up the remaining four slots. Cook took over as captain after Andrew Strauss quit last year and led England to a series win in India, ending a barren run of 28 years, as well as home series victories over New Zealand and Australia in the year’s first Ashes series. England face Australia in the second test of the return Ashes series in Adelaide on Thursday, where the holders will be hoping to bounce back after being thrashed by 381 runs in the opener of the five-match series in Brisbane last month. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led India to the Champions Trophy victory in June, was named captain of ICC’s one-day international team. “It is always tough to decide on the test and ODI teams of the year, with so many worthy candidates to consider based on the players’ performances between August 7 2012 and August 25 2013,” ICC awards selection panel chairman Anil Kumble said in a statement. “The selection panel had a lengthy debate on all the top performers during the performance period and a number of combinations were considered. The selectors did utilise a vast amount of statistics from the period under observation, but we also took into account other factors like the opposition, pitch conditions, match situation and the like. But when you have only 12 places to fill from a big group of world-class players, there will always be a few who will miss out.” Dhoni satisfied Dhoni, who found place in the 50-over side for the sixth successive year, also won the ICC’s people’s choice award ahead of Cook, Australia’s Michael Clarke, Virat Kohli of India and South Africa’s AB de Viliers. “This is one of the awards that has given me tremendous satisfaction, since it comes from the key stakeholders of the game – the fans,” Dhoni said in a statement. “Recognition from the people who support and encourage us day in and day out, only inspires me to put in that much more, and go the extra mile for them. I would like to thank all those people who have voted in my favour.” Cook and Dhoni also made the short-list of nominees for the ICC cricketer of the year award along with Anderson, South Africa batsman Hashim Amla and Clarke. Test team Alastair Cook (Eng, captain), Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind), Hashim Amla (SA), Michael Clarke (Aus), Michael Hussey (Aus), AB de Villiers (SA), MS Dhoni (Ind), Graeme Swann (Eng)Dale Steyn (SA), James Anderson (Eng), Vernon Philander (SA). 12th Man: Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind). ODI team Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL), Shikhar Dhawan (Ind) Hashim Amla (SA), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), AB de Villiers (SA), MS Dhoni (Ind, captain), Ravindra Jadeja (Ind), Saeed Ajmal (Pak), Mitchell Starc (Aus), James Anderson (Eng), Lasith Malinga (SL). 12th Man: Mitchell McClenaghan (NZ).