Australian captain Pat Cummins, who enjoyed an enviably successful 2023 both as captain and player, won the men's Player of the Year at the ICC Awards that were announced on Thursday (January 25). Apart from leading Australia to the ODI World Cup title, Cummins also oversaw the World Test Championship glory while also retaining the urn with a drawn Ashes series in England.
Complementing his leadership success was his bowling excellence as Cummins finished as the sixth highest wicket-taker across formats in 2023. In Tests, he was second only to teammate Nathan Lyon in the wicket-takers list. There were also some crisis knocks with the bat. Like the Edgbaston Test and the support roles in the World Cup against Afghanistan and South Africa (semifinal).
Virat Kohli was adjudged the men's ODI Cricketer of the Year. He had a stellar year with the bat, tallying 1377 runs at an average of 72 and strike rate of 99. He was the second highest run-scorer in the year for 50-over cricket behind teammate Shubman Gill but Kohli's phenomenal World Cup campaign where he tallied a record-breaking 765 runs was influential in him grabbing the honours. The 35-year-old also went past Sachin Tendulkar's record for the most ODI hundreds during the World Cup.
Usman Khawaja fittingly won the men's Test Cricketer of the Year award. His comeback swelled to historic proportions as he ended 2023 as the highest run-scorer in the longest format for the year. The left-hander was the only batter to breach the 1000-run mark in 2023 and tallied 1210 runs at a healthy average of 52 with three centuries and six fifties. Behind him in the run-scoring chart were his Australian teammates in Steve Smith, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne in that order.
Nat Sciver-Brunt had another exceptional year and was awarded women's Cricketer of the Year for the second successive time. She didn't top the run charts in either ODIs or T20Is but that was largely due to her not featuring in every game for England. Injuries and workload management had a say in this but in the games that she did play, Sciver-Brunt's consistency was phenomenal. She played in just six ODIs, batted five times and registered three centuries with an overall strike rate of 107 for the year. In T20Is, the story was similar, as the 31-year-old aggregated 364 runs from just 10 innings at an average of 45 and strike rate of 135.
Just as impactful as the Englishwoman was Chamari Athapaththu who was named the women's ICC ODI cricketer of the year. The Sri Lankan captain was the only batter among those who crossed 400-plus runs in 2023 to have a strike-rate of above 100. She struck at 125, comfortably the best for any player and the pace of scoring coupled with her consistency was pivotal to Sri Lanka's successes, notably the ODI series win at home against New Zealand.
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews won the women's T20I Player of the Year for her exceptional performance in the shortest format. She ended with 700 runs from 14 innings, averaging 63.6 at a strike rate of 132.3 including one century and four fifties. The 25-year-old topped the run charts by a country mile and made a strong impact in West Indies' performances including a world record run chase against Australia.
For the second year in a row, India's Suryakumar Yadav won the men's T20I Player of the Year award. The top-ranked batter in the format endured another successful year with the willow with 733 runs at an average of 48 and strike rate of 159.6 coated with two tons and five fifties. The strike rate was relatively lesser compared to previous years but Suryakumar continued to be the mainstay of India's batting in T20Is, dominating attacks across the globe.
New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra won the men's Emerging Player of the Year award for his impressive showing with the bat, largely in the ODI format. He shot to fame in the World Cup and ended the year with impressive stats of 820 runs at a healthy average of 41 and strike rate of 108. In women's cricket, it was Australia's Phoebe Litchfield who took the honours as she made a laudable start to her international career, especially in ODIs where she ended 2023 as the second highest run scorer. The youngster also made a big impact in T20Is.
Bas de Leede took home the men's Associate Cricketer of the Year award for his all-round contributions that were crucial to Netherlands' successes, particularly their qualification for the ODI World Cup. Kenya's Queentor Abel won the honours in women's Associate cricket and like de Leede, she too was excellent with both bat and ball. Richard Illingworth won the Umpire of the Year award.
List of the major ICC awards
Men's Cricketer of the Year: Pat Cummins
Women's Cricketer of the Year: Nat Sciver-Brunt
Men's Test Cricketer of the Year: Usman Khawaja
Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year: Virat Kohli
Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year: Chamari Athapaththu
Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year: Suryakumar Yadav
Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year: Hayley Matthews
Men's Associate Cricketer of the Year: Bas de Leede
Women's Associate Cricketer of the Year: Queentor Abel
Men's Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Rachin Ravindra
Women's Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Phoebe Litchfield
Umpire of the Year: Richard Illingworth