Sachin Tendulkar has been voted the cricketer of the generation by a 50-member jury of current and former cricketers and journalists.
Tendulkar beat strong competition from Shane Warne and Jacques Kallis to
win the award, presented to mark the first generation of the existence
of ESPNcricinfo, which has been online since 1993.
The jury that decided on the award included Michael Holding, Ian
Chappell, Martin Crowe, Mark Taylor, Younis Khan, Kumar Sangakkara,
Mahela Jayawardene, Barry Richards, John Wright and Jeff Dujon, among
others.
Mitchell Johnson's series-defining 7 for 40 in the Ashes Test in Adelaide won the Test bowling title
for 2013 in the annual ESPNcricinfo Awards, over performances from Dale
Steyn, Vernon Philander, James Anderson, and Johnson's own Brisbane
four-for in the Ashes opener, which kicked off a scarcely believable
streak in which he took 59 wickets in eight Tests at a little over 15
runs each.
Shahid Afridi won the ODI bowling award
with his 7 for 12 against West Indies - a match he also dominated with
the bat, making 76 off 55 balls. It was Afridi's second ESPNcricinfo
Award; he won in the same category for 2009.
"I remember this game because I was not picked for the Champions Trophy,
and that was my comeback and that was my first game in Georgetown,"
Afridi said about the award, "and [I produced an] awesome performance in
batting and bowling as well, so I am very happy for this."
Indian players took the two batting prizes. Shikhar Dhawan won the Test batting award
for his rollicking 187 on debut against Australia in Mohali last year.
Rohit Sharma's ODI double-century in Bangalore, also against Australia,
was picked as the ODI batting performance of the year.
"It is really a special award, and it was a very special performance,
and it is very close to me," Rohit said about winning. "I am very happy
that ESPN has recognised this performance of mine. Getting 200 every
day is not easy. More than anything else it was a match-winning
performance and it helped us win the series. It was a decider game, we
wanted to win the game and win the series, so I am happy that it came at
the right time and we won the series."
The jury for the performance awards included Mark Butcher, Sanjay
Manjrekar, Daryll Cullinan, Russel Arnold, Ian Bishop, Rahul Dravid, and
a number of ESPNcricinfo's senior writers.
A new category, the Debutant of the Year,
voted on by ESPNcricinfo users, was won by India's Mohammed Shami, who
took 17 wickets in his four Tests in 2013, and 30 ODI wickets. Shami
beat the likes of Kusal Perera, Ashton Agar, Kyle Abbott, Sohail Maqsood
and Jason Holder to the title.
Also new this year, the Contribution to Cricket Award
went to Tarak Sinha, head coach of the Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi,
who has been involved in the development of a remarkable number of
Indian Test and first-class players, among them Aakash Chopra, Ashish
Nehra and Manoj Prabhajar. Sinha, who was nominated for the award by
Rahul Dravid, has coached Ranji Trophy-winning Delhi and Rajasthan
teams, and was the coach of the India women's team the first time it won
a Test series overseas.
South Africans AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn dominated the Statsguru Awards,
which are adjudged based purely on statistical data. De Villiers won
Batsman of the Year, Best Test Batsman, and Most Consistent Batsman.
Steyn was the Bowler of the Year and the Best Test Bowler.
The ESPNcricinfo Awards are now in their seventh year. Past winners have
included Dale Steyn, Kumar Sangakkara, Virender Sehwag and Lasith
Malinga.
