DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – Stafanie Taylor and Kemar Roach are the only two players from West Indies vying for major individual honours in the ICC Awards this year.
Taylor is one of 13 women nominated for the Women’s World Cricketer-of-the-Year award, and Roach is one of 14 nominated for the Emerging Player-of-the-Year award.
Both will now have to make it to the final cut for their respective awards, which will be presented at a glittering ceremony in the Indian city of Bengaluru on October 6.
Taylor continues to be the standard-bearer for West Indies Women in the international game.
The 19-year-old Jamaican has scored 332 runs at an average of 36.50 in nine ODIs during the period of review from last August 24 to this August 10.
This included a brilliant, maiden, undefeated 108 against South Africa Women last October in Paarl that helped West Indies Women to a five-wicket victory in a low-scoring match.
Taylor has also made her mark with her steady off-spin, taking 11 wickets at 22.18 apiece.
During the period, West Indies Women had memorable series victories over England and Sri Lanka, and was part of the supporting cast that carried Merissa Aguilleira’s side through to the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
Roach has had to carry the West Indies men’s attack on his shoulders for most of the past year, following severe injuries to Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor.
The 22-year-old fast bowler from Barbados has taken 13 wickets at 41.07 each in five Tests during the review period. He also captured 13 wickets at 24.14 apiece in eight ODIs, and seven wickets at 20.14 each in eight T20 Internationals.
Though Roach failed to snare a five-wicket haul during the period, his feisty attitude, and fearsome bowling twice shone through.
He won admirers in Australia for his hostile pace, and put their captain Ricky Ponting out the game for almost a month, after he struck him on the elbow in a Test at Perth.
Roach also nearly decapitated South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis with a fiery bouncer in the final Test in June on home soil at Kensington Oval. This led to an ugly confrontation, which left him without half of his match fee.
He was one of the top draws in the third Indian Premier League auction, and was bought by Deccan Chargers for US$720,000.
Taylor’s West Indies Women’s team-mate Deandra Dottin, as well as Roach’s team-mates Sulieman Benn, Chris Gayle, and Darren Sammy are all under consideration for producing the T20 International Performance-of-the-Year.
Dottin slammed the fastest T20I hundred ever by either a man or a woman, when she smote seven fours and nine sixes in 112 not out from 45 balls against South Africa in the T20 World Cup in St. Kitts.
Benn is being recognised for his memorable figures of 4-2-6-4 against Zimbabwe in February this year in Trinidad.
Gayle’s whirlwind 98 from 66 balls that included five fours and seven sixes against India in the T20 World Cup in Barbados has also been nominated. And Sammy’s five for 26 in 3.5 overs against Zimbabwe in February at Queen’s Park Oval has also made the list.
Dominica and West Indies umpire Billy Doctrove has also made the list of nominees for the Umpire-of-the-Year award.
The long-lists of nominations were made by a five-man selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd.
The panel also included former international players Angus Fraser of England, Matthew Hayden of Australia, Ravi Shastri of India and Zimbabwe’s Duncan Fletcher.
The individual player awards will be selected by an academy of 25 highly-credentialled cricket personalities from around the World.
The academy includes a host of former players and respected members of the media, representatives of the elite panel of umpires and match referees. The nominations from the Women’s Cricketer-of-the-Year were decided after a committee of former players, current administrators, and journalists created a long-list. The award will then be voted for by a separate 25-member voting academy.
The Umpire of the Year Award was voted on by the captains and the match referees based on the umpires’ performance statistics.
To qualify for the Emerging Player award, a player must be under the age of 26, and played fewer than five Tests and/or 10 ODIs at the start of the voting period.
