Dhoni gets ICC Spirit of Cricket Award | LG ICC Awards 2011

Indian Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni gets ICC Spirit of Cricket Award at a glittering ICC Awards function on Monday. Dhoni was chosen for the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for his fine gesture of recalling Ian Bell after the England batsman was run out under controversial circumstances during the second Test at Trent Bridge in July. Dhoni turned out to be the lone Indian to win an ICC award this year. Despite being wrapped up in an intense and difficult Test series in England, Dhoni showed the right spirit in agreeing to allow Bell to continue batting when he was run out.

Commenting on Dhoni’s gesture, ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said, “While the initial appeal and umpire decision were correct to the letter of the law, the decision by Mahendra and his team to withdraw the appeal shows great maturity. To see players and officials uphold the Great Spirit of cricket, which has underpinned the game for more than a century, is very special.”

England’s Jonathan Trott won the top award after beating competition from his national team-mate Alastair Cook and South Africa’s Hashim Amla, besides that of Tendulkar.

ODI Player of the Year Award which was won by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara.Sangakkara also became the second-ever recipient of the LG People’s Choice Award. Sangakkara was voted to the award by the general public and beat off strong competition for the award from South Africa’s Hashim Amla, England’s Jonathan Trott, West Indies’ Chris Gayle and Dhoni.
Trott accepted the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy from ICC President Sharad Pawar at the glittering ceremony.
Alastair Cook won the Test Cricketer of the Year Award for his superb form in the longest format of the game in the past 12 months.
Bishoo was the top choice of the 25-person voting academy, coming in ahead of team-mate Darren Bravo, and Pakistan pair of Wahab Riaz and Azhar Ali.

Netherlands all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate has become the ICC Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year for the second successive year.
New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee was chosen for the ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year in recognition of his five wickets for 18 runs against Pakistan last year.
West Indies all-rounder Stafanie Taylor won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year Award.
Pakistan’s Aleem Dar won the David Shepherd Trophy for third time after being named ICC Umpire of the Year.

The ODI team of the year reflects the success of India with four players selected – Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan. Yuvraj was, of course, the player of the tournament and MS Dhoni, the man of the match in the final.

ICC ODI Team of the Year :

Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Virender Sehwag (India), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Shane Watson (Australia), Yuvraj Singh (India), MS Dhoni (India, wicketkeeper/captain), Graeme Swann (England), Umar Gul (Pakistan), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Zaheer Khan (India), 12th Man – Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka).