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Jayawardene lifts skipper award

03/11/2006 17:52 - (SA)

Mumbai - Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene has been named as the Captain of the Year at the ICC Awards in Mumbai.

Jayawardene, 29, displayed impressive leadership qualities during the voting period of the award, leading his side to a series of impressive victories against tough opposition.

Between August 1, 2005 and August 8, 2006, Jayawardene captained his side in nine Test matches, winning five of them, and 14 ODIs, winning ten.

Among the highlights of his leadership were a comeback in the Test series in England, where Sri Lanka shared the three-match clash 1-1; a clean-sweep of the five-match ODI series against the same opponents; and a 2-0 series win over South Africa. During the voting period, Jayawardene's Test batting average was over 55.

Speaking after receiving the award, a smiling Jayawardene said: 'It's a shock. I am really thrilled even to be nominated for this award alongside Ricky, Michael and Rahul. So to actually win it is a great feeling.

'This award means that the team has done well. I think a captain is only as good as his team. This is really for the team work we have show. The whole team deserves this because they have put so much work into this.

'I am still a stand-in captain. Hopefully Marvan (Atapattu) will be back from injury soon and I will be glad to just be there alongside him on the field.'

This is the first time the ICC Awards has included a Captain of the Year honour. Jayawardene received the award from the former Pakistan ICC Cricket World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan at the ICC Awards ceremony in Mumbai on Friday night.

Jayawardene beat off strong competition from Michael Vaughan of England, Ricky Ponting of Australia and India's Rahul Dravid to win the award.

The Captain of the Year Award is not necessarily about recognising the most successful leader; it is also intended to reward the player who has displayed excellent tactical awareness, has best fulfilled obligations to the game as set out by the ICC and the Laws of Cricket and has best demonstrated the Spirit of Cricket during the voting period.

The recognition of the importance of promoting the Spirit of Cricket, an ethos on how the game should be played and viewed both on and off the field, illustrates the ICC's commitment to encouraging a positive image of the game.

The Captain of the Year was one of 10 individual and team honours handed out during the ICC Awards. The event recognises cricket's star performers over a 12-month period.

Voting for the Captain of the Year was completed by the 56-member ICC Awards voting Academy who cast a 3-2-1 vote (three votes being the greater value) from the list of nominees, with the votes tallied to produce a winner.

The voting Academy included the 10 ICC Full Member captains, the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Referees, the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and a host of legends of the game and respected members of the media.

Last chance to solve national crisis - Ranil

LOL your explanation was funny

By the way are you related to Wimal Weerawansa?

:)

Do you belive Ranil?

the problem i have with Ranil is he is a smooth talker but underneath he is the same. if i was a sinhalese I would MOST definitely vote for him since the man is DEFINITELY good for the majority (a fact i guess roughly half the sinhala population fails to understand!!) , i ma not so sure about the minority though.

Preferably to be exploded in the middle of Jaffna vegetable market