Double delight for Clarke

Australia captain Michael Clarke has been named as the ICC International Cricketer of the Year, with England’s Alastair Cook and James Anderson missing out.Clarke beat fellow nominees Cook, Anderson, Hashim Amla, MS Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara to the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.Clarke also scooped the Test Cricketer of the Year ahead of Amla, Anderson, India duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara and South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn.Clarke was the world’s leading run-scorer in the voting period which included the team’s 4-0 drubbing in India and 3-0 Ashes defeat in England. He amassed 1559 runs in the voting period - averaging over 70 - with the help of five hundreds, two of which were double centuries.“I was very surprised, to be honest, I think probably because there are so many guys who are playing so well around the world at the moment,” Clarke told Cricket Australia’s website.“I’d swap it for the team to have success, that’s for sure. It’s an honour to have won this award this year, but if I want to become a great player, I need to make sure I’m scoring runs and helping this team win games for a few more years to come yet.”Sri Lanka batsman Sangakkara was named One-day Cricketer of the Year, beating off competition from Pakistan pair Saeed Ajmal and Misbah ul-Haq and India trio Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.The Women’s Player of the Year award went to Suzie Bates of New Zealand, England’s Charlotte Edwards and Anya Shrubsole missing out.But there was English success in the Women’s T20 category which went to Sarah Taylor, and Richard Kettleborough was named Umpire of the Year.India batsman Pujara was named the Emerging Cricketer of the Year ahead of England’s Joe Root, Kiwi Trent Boult and Australia’s Mitchell Starc.PerformanceIreland all-rounder Kevin O’Brien won the Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year.The Twenty20 international performance of the year was Pakistan’s Umar Gul’s 2.2-0-6-5 against South Africa back in March.The Spirit of Cricket award went to Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena for not waiting for umpire’s decision after edging a catch to the wicketkeeper when he was batting on 91 against New Zealand in a Test match in Galle in November 2012.