Jhulan is Women's Cricketer of the Year
Bengal's Jhulan Goswami beat Lisa Sthalekar of Australia and England's Claire Taylor to take the honour.
Pace bowler Jhulan Goswami of India was on Monday night adjudged the ICC Women's Cricketer of the year, ahead of other nominees Lisa Sthalekar of Australia and England's Claire Taylor.
Goswami, the 23-year-old player from West Bengal's Nadia district, received the award at a glittering function from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, skipper of the Indian team for the Twenty Twenty World Cup.
Jhulan was the only Indian to be nominated for the awards this year. "I'm very happy, very excited", gushed an elated Jhulan, a product of MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai.
Jhulan said what made her award more special was the fact that there was no nomination from India for ICC awards in the mens categories. "So, it is even more special for my country and makes up for that disappointment", she said adding "it was a pleasure to receive this award from the India (Twenty20) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he is such a good player".
"This award does a lot for womens cricket. I think womens cricket is growing, slowly. We are getting more and more coverage now in the media and that can only be a good thing for game as it encourages more girls to take up the game and improves the overall levels of performance", she said.
The award winner was chosen by a panel of experts on the womens game and Goswami beat Lisa Sthalekar of Australia and England s Claire Taylor to take the honour. Goswami is the second winner of this award after former Australia captain Karen Rolton had won the prize last year.
For the Womens Cricketer of the Year, each ICC Member that played international cricket during the voting period was eligible to nominate two players.
The resultant list was then voted upon by 17 leading former players and influential figures in the womens game including members of the media.
The trophy presented to Jhulan, which was produced by leading brand name Swarovski, features a crystal cricket ball studded with over 4200 Swarovski crystal chantons, cusped in a hand which extends from an aluminium base. The hand represents the theme of "breaking through" in pursuit of excellence.
Emerging ICC Player of the Year
Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait won the Emerging ICC Player of the Year while Simon Taufel, also of Australia, got the ICC Umpire of the Year for fourth year in a row.
Tait, the 24-year-old from Adelaide, has gone a long way to cementing his place in the national team over the past year with some stellar performances with the ball, playing 15 ODIs and taking 28 wickets at an average of 24.46 with a strike-rate of a wicket every 26.4 balls.
Tait is the fourth recipient of the Emerging Player of the Year award following on from England duo Ian Bell last year and Kevin Pietersen in 2005, and India's Irfan Pathan in 2004.
Tait warded off challenge from New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan.
Taufel, 36, was voted for this award by 10 Test captains as well as the eight-man Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Referees, ahead of other nominees Mark Benson, Daryl Harper and Steve Bucknor.
World ODI and Test Team of the Year
The ICC also announced its World ODI and Test Team of the Year at the awards function.
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian player to find a place in the ODI team while pace bowler Zaheer Khan has been named as the 12th man in the Test team.
Both the ODI and Test teams were selected by a specially appointed selection panel chaired by Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar.
The World ODI Team of the Year (in batting order) is
:
Matthew Hayden (Aus), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Jacques Kallis (SA), Mark Boucher (SA, wicketkeeper) Chaminda Vaas (SL), Shane Bond (NZ) Muttiah Muralidaran (SL), Glenn McGrath (Aus) 12th man: Michael Hussey (Aus)
The World Test Team of the Year (in batting order) is
: Matthew Hayden (Aus), Michael Vaughan (Eng), Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain), Mohammad Yousuf (Pak), Kevin Pietersen (Eng) Michael Hussey (Aus), Kumar Sangakkara (SL, wicketkeeper) Stuart Clark (Aus), Makhaya Ntini (SA), Mohammad Asif (Pak) Muttiah Muralidaran (SL), 12th man: Zaheer Khan (Ind).