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Shaun Tait has won the ICC Emerging Player of the Year, the first award to be announced at the Awards dinner in Johannesburg. He beat of competition from Ravi Bopara, Saqib-ul-Hasan and Ross Taylor. Tait, who pulled out of the ICC World Twenty20 through injury, wasn’t able to collect his award in person and it was picked up for him by Mike Hussey.

Thomas Odoyo, the Kenya allrounder, carried away the ICC Associate Player of the Year award. This was a new award for 2007 and Odoyo said “it was a great honour” to come out on top against his peers. Odoyo has been a key member of Kenya’s one-day and Intercontinental Cup sides for a number of years and gained the award ahead of Ryan the Doeschate, Ashish Bagai and his captain Steve Tikolo.

In the first surprise of the evening, Indian allrounder Jhulan Goswami has won Women Cricketer of the Year. The Australian batsman Lisa Sthalekar had been the favourite after a prolific year with the bat, but it was Goswami’s success with bat and ball in Tests and ODIs which swung the balance. She took 20 wickets in 16 ODIs and 10 against England in the second Test which sealed a series win. “It’s great that the ICC awards have been given to women’s cricket,” she said. “Hopefully it will help raise the profile.

Simon Taufel picked up the Umpire of the Year award for the fourth year running, prompting comparisons with Roger Federer, who did the US Open four-in-a-row on Sunday. Asked if he felt like Federer after winning the award, Taufel’s response was: “Roger earns a lot more money than I do.”

In the year he retired from international cricket and led the World Cup wicket-taking list, Glenn McGrath was named in the One-day International team of the year. Unsurprisingly, a period where they won the Champions Trophy and World Cup, Australia are well represented with Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting also named. Team Matthew Hayden, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Kevin Pietersen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher (wk), Chaminda Vaas, Shane Bond, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath.

Michael Vaughan capped a great return from an injury that nearly ended his career by making it to the Test Team of the Year. The side was dominated by Australia as well, which wasn’t surprising considering the way they have demolished all opposition. Adam Gilchrist missed out, though, with Kumar Sangakkara taking the wicketkeeper’s slot. Team Matthew Hayden, Michael Vaughan, Mohammad Yousuf, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Stuart Clark, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini, Mohammad Asif. 12th man: Zaheer Khan.

Source:Cricket News