A host of Australia's world champion men's and women's players have been acknowledged in the International Cricket Council's ICC Awards 2023 announced this week, with captain Pat Cummins claiming the Sir Garfield Sobers Award as the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.
Three Australian players received individual awards, while 16 were nominated in ICC Teams of the Year across men's and women's formats.
Cummins, who in addition to being named Men’s Cricketer of the Year, was also named as captain of the ICC Test Team of the Year, capping a remarkable list of achievements in 2023 that included retaining the Ashes and captaining Australia to victories in the World Test Championship and ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
Another member of Australia’s World Test Championship winning side Usman Khawaja was named ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year after scoring 1,210 runs at an average of 52.60 and three centuries. Khawaja was the only batter to score over 1000 Test runs in the 2023 calendar year.
Earlier in the week, 20-year-old Phoebe Litchfield was awarded the ICC Emerging Women's Cricketer of the Year after an impressive first year in ODI cricket, amassing 485 runs in 13 matches at an average of 53.88 and a strike rate of 81.92.
The individual awards were based on performances between 1 January and 31 December 2023 and determined by votes cast by the ICC Voting Academy and hundreds of thousands of global cricket fans.
Cricket Australia Chief Executive Nick Hockley said: “Congratulations to Pat, Usman and Phoebe on their individual honours at the ICC Awards which are fantastic global recognition for their incredible performances that have contributed to a stellar year for Australian cricket.
“Pat is the first Australian to be recognised as the men’s ICC Cricketer of the Year since Steve Smith in 2015 and this is richly deserved recognition for both his excellent individual performances and also his captaincy.
“Usman has had another brilliant year and his runs at the top of the order have been crucial to our success in the Test arena. At 37, he is playing as well as ever, while Phoebe has begun her career in incredible fashion. All three are outstanding players and role models.
"Congratulations to all 16 Australian players that were selected in ICC Team of the Year nominations.
“To have this number of players included across men's and women's formats shows how fortunate we are to have so many of the world's best players representing Australia.
"I'd also like to thank our high-performance staff, who do a fantastic job to create the environment for our world-class players to perform at their best."
Australian ICC Award winners
Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year: Pat Cummins
ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year: Usman Khawaja
ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Phoebe Litchfield
ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year: Pat Cummins (C), Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Alex Carey (WK), Mitchell Starc
ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year: Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney (WK), Ash Gardner, Annabel Sutherland
ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year: Travis Head, Adam Zampa
ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year: Beth Mooney (WK), Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner, Megan Schutt