Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena was voted as Umpire of the Year by international captains and ICC Match Referees, winning the David Shepherd Trophy for the second time at the annual ICC cricket awards for 2018. He first won this award in 2012.
“It has been a very satisfying year for me and this award from the ICC is a great honour and privilege. This comes six years after I was first named for the award and will inspire me to keep doing the job I love so much,” said Dharmasena hoping his award would inspire other Sri Lanka officials.
“I have always been passionate about cricket, both as a player and an umpire and look forward to keep working hard and challenging myself in order to meet the demands of this great game. I would like to thank my wife for being the strength behind my achievements and also my kids for their support and understanding.
“I would like to thank Mr. Peter Manuel, my coach, for his guidance from the start of my umpiring career, together with all the other coaches from ICC and Sri Lanka Cricket. I take this opportunity to thank all my fellow colleagues for all the encouragement and support over the years, without which this would not have been possible,” he said.
Dimuth Karunaratne was the only other Sri Lankan to figure in the ICC awards being named as opener in the ICC Test Team of the Year.
Indian captain Virat Kohli made a clean sweep of the three major ICC awards. He became the first player in history to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year, the ICC Men’s Test Player of the Year and the ICC ODI Player of the Year awards following an extraordinary 2018.
Not only is Kohli the first player to win these three major ICC awards together but he has also been named the captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year for a fabulous run in international cricket. Kohli scored 1,322 runs at an average of 55.08 in 13 Tests with five hundreds during the calendar year while in 14 ODIs he amassed 1202 runs at an astonishing average of 133.55 with six centuries. He also scored 211 runs in 10 T20Is.
The 30-year-old from Delhi, who first came into limelight when he led India to victory at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, finished the year as the top-ranked batsman in Tests and ODIs. The highest scorer in both forms of the game in 2018, he was one of only two batsmen to score more than 1,000 runs in Tests and only among three to do so in ODI cricket.
Kohli was the unanimous choice of the Voting Academy for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy with South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada coming in second to him for both this award and the ICC Test Player of the Year award. Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan was runner up to Kohli for the ICC ODI Player of the Year award.
Kohli had won the Sir Garfield Trophy and ICC ODI Player of the Year awards last year and was also the ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012.
Australia opener Aaron Finch has won the ICC Men’s T20I Performance of the Year award for the second time after his world record 172 against Zimbabwe in Harare last July was chosen by the ICC Voting Academy.
Rishabh Pant of India was named as the ICC Emerging Player of the Year, Scotland’s Calum MacLeod crowned the ICC Associate Player of the Year and Kane Williamson won the ICC Spirit of Cricket award. Meanwhile, India winning the ICC U19 World Cup in New Zealand has been voted as the Fans’ Moment of the Year with 48 per cent of the votes.
Afghanistan’s miracle comeback at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier came in second with 36 per cent votes.
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