Australian star Pat Cummins clinched the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year 2023 award on Thursday, January 25. Australian captain defeated his fellow teammate Travis Head and Indian batter Virat Kohli to claim the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy 2023.
Cummins guided Australia to the ICC World Test Championship 2023 title and then also captained the team that clinched the ICC ODI World Cup for the sixth time. Apart from his contribution as a leader, the right-arm pacer took 59 wickets in 32 international innings in 2023 and scored 422 runs as well.
Virat Kohli had previously won this award in 2017 and 2018 and once again was a leading contender. Kohli finished the year 2023 with 2048 runs in just 36 international innings with the help of a record eight hundreds. Kohli also smashed a record-breaking 765 runs in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 and claimed the Player of the Tournament award.
But the Indian team's heartbreaking defeats in the finals of the World Cup and WTC 2023 denied Kohli winning the prestigious award for record three times. Cummins played a crucial role in Australia's glorious campaign in both the WTC and ODI World Cup to get his hand on the award for the first time in his career.
Meanwhile, England's in-form all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt bagged the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year 2023 award ahead of Ashleigh Gardner and Chamari Athapaththu. Notably, Sciver-Brunt was defending this award having won it for her performances in 2022 as well. She became the only third player after Ellyse Perry and Smriti Mandhana to win the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award multiple times.
Sciver-Brunt scored 894 runs in 18 international matches in 2023 and also claimed nine wickets to defend her title. Australia's Beth Mooney was also a front-runner for the award having scored 1040 runs and taking 12 catches in 2023.
