Former UAE captain Khurram Khan has been named the ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year.
Khurram, 44, ended 2015 as the leading run-scorer among Associate and Affiliate nations, scoring 425 runs in nine one-day matches.
The batsman and his runs were key to leading the UAE to the 2015 Cricket World Cup, the nation’s first appearance since 1996.
“I feel honoured to be named as the ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year,” Khurram said. “To be the first UAE cricketer to win this award makes it even more special.
“This award is for all the UAE players I played with as well as for the Emirates Cricket Board, which gave me the opportunity to fulfil my childhood dream of playing in an ICC Cricket World Cup.”
Elsewhere, Australia captain Steve Smith won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy after being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year.
Smith becomes the fourth Australian to win the award, behind Ricky Ponting (2006 and 2007), Mitchell Johnson (2009 and 2014) and Michael Clarke (2013) since the award’s inception in 2004.
Smith, who was also named ICC Test Cricket of the Year, finished the voting period — from September 18 2014 to September 13 2015 — as the world’s leading Test run-scorer with 1,734 runs in 25 innings of 13 matches at an average of 82.57.
In 26 One-Day Internationals, Smith scored 1,249 runs at an average of just under 60 with four centuries and eight half-centuries. He was a member of the Australia side which won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.
“I will look back on 2015 with mixed feelings,” Smith said. “Winning the ICC Cricket World Cup at home was a career highlight, and being appointed captain is a great honour, but the disappointment of losing the Ashes remains.
“To be the best team that we can be, we have to become better at winning away from home, and that remains our motivation heading into 2016.
“I’d like to thank my teammates and my family for their support over the year. I’d also like to thank the voting panel for this recognition, which is very humbling.”
FULL LIST OF AWARD WINNERS:
ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) — Steve Smith (Australia)
ICC Test Cricketer of the Year — Steve Smith (Australia)
ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year — AB de Villiers (South Africa)
ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year — Meg Lanning (Australia)
ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year — Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
ICC T20I Performance of the Year — Faf du Plessis (South Africa) (119, 56 balls, 11x4, 5x6 — 2nd T20I vs West Indies, 11 January 2015, Johannesburg)
ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year — Josh Hazlewood (Australia)
ICC Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year — Khurram Khan (UAE)
ICC Spirit of Cricket Award — Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
ICC Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy) — Richard Kettleborough
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