Cook named captain of ICC Team of the Year
ENGLAND TEAMMATES ROOT AND BROAD ALSO SELECTED
England skipper Alastair Cook was named captain of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Team of the Year yesterday, with international teammates Joe Root and Stuart Broad also selected.
Cook, 30, has recaptured his form in 2015, skippering England to Ashes glory against Australia and recently hitting 263 against Pakistan, and is the current leading Test run-scorer for the year.
He was included in the ICC team, selected by an expert panel, for the fourth time and the second as captain.
“I would like to congratulate all the players for their selection in the Test and ODI teams of the year,” said awards selection panel chairman Anil Kumble, the former India captain.
Recognition
“It is an achievement for each of them to be proud of and a recognition for their good performances in the qualifying period.”
Root scored two crucial Ashes centuries and is currently joint top of the Test batting rankings. Broad, selected for the fifth time, is the leading fast bowling wicket-taker in Tests this year and recorded careerbest figures of 8-15 against Australia at his home ground of Trent Bridge.
Australia captain Steve Smith and New Zealand’s left-arm fast bowler Trent Boult were named in both the Test and one-day international teams, with Root appointed 12th man for the one-day side.
Ashwin 12th man
South African linchpin AB de Villiers captains the 50-over team. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and seamer Mohammad Shami were the only Indians to feature in the Test and ODI teams. Ashwin is the highest wicket-taker of 2015 with 55 scalps, ahead of England pacer Broad (51).
The Tamil Nadu spinner, who had five scalps in the first innings, returned with figures of 7/66 in the second innings, to help hosts beat South Africa by 124 runs in the third Test and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series recently.
But he was named the 12th man of the Test side.
Shami has been included in the first 11 of the ODI team.
Trent Boult gained his debut nomination in the ODI team of the year alongside his New Zealand teammate Ross Taylor.
Bangladesh’s 20-year-old left-arm pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman was also named in the ODI team.
“I would like to congratulate all the players for their selection in the Test and ODI teams of the year. It is an achievement for each of them to be proud of and a recognition for their good performances in the qualifying period,” former India leg-spinner Anil Kumble, chairman of the ICC Awards Selection Panel said in a release.